


Apocalypse 2.0

by SilverWolfCub



Series: Apocalypse Problems [1]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Supernatural
Genre: Adam pulled them into this, Apocalypse, Aziraphale caring for Castiel is something I never knew I needed, Crowley and Dean have a love/hate relationship, F/M, Gabriel and Crowley know each other to well for my likings, Heavenly family drama, I wish I knew about Good Omens sooner, M/M, SEALs, They’re together and also not, True Vessels are more then just Vessels, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2020-07-10 04:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 52,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19900105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWolfCub/pseuds/SilverWolfCub
Summary: Dean met someone else in Hell before Castiel, a demon with a British accent that didn’t want to torture him, for once. And boy, is he glad he did, or else the apocalypse would’ve happened before they were even made aware of it.To bad someone is gunning for Apocalypse 2.0.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m going to post this here... I guess. Why not?  
> So, warning, updates with be spastic, since I usaully wait until I’m at least halfway done with the story to update and I’ve only got 4 chapters done right now...  
> And when I say warning for spastic, I mean I have no schedule, which might sound bad but when I do have a schedule I’m still spastic with updates so this just means I’ll be even more spastic.

_A few centuries ago… they don’t remember how many, but they know it was a few centuries..._

“Did you know about this, angel?”

Said angel took the paper tentatively, as if afraid it was going to burn (which, in all honesty, it could) him. He read it quickly, before giving it back. “No, I can’t say I have.”

The demon hummed. “It’s not good.” He murmured. “Not good at all.”

“What?” The angel squeaked. “It’s great. It’s been what we’ve been going for, for ages!”

“No, angel, no-“ the demon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is like- this is like- the- the-“ he snapped his fingers. “The- the thing with the comet!”

The angel looked confused. “Those dinosaur skeletons are fake, dear.”

“No!” The demon groaned. “Not that one! The one with the ice age! Remember how it was a little too early? The population was cut in half instead of them losing just a quarter.”

The angel was still exasperated. “And what does this have to do with that?” He gestured to the paper.

“It means.” The demon had started to flail his arms, looking around. “It means that it’s too early! Where are the other seals? Where’s the antichrist?!”

“Oh.” The angel said, starting to understand. “Oh dear.”

“Exactly!” The demon said. “They’ve been planning this for thousands of years, but they didn’t expect our arrangement.”

“The Arrangement?” The angel asked, making sure to capitalize the ‘A’. “What about it?”

The demon groaned. “This is a part of the arrangement, angel.”

“Oh.” The angel said. “It is?”

“Yes!”

“Oh, er, okay then.” The angel shrugged, seeing nothing wrong with it. He hadn’t planned on starting their battles back up either. It had been a few years since the Arrangement, and since then, he’s enjoyed himself a lot more then before. Not having to worry about being discoporated at any second was a pleasant thing.

The demon smiled, something with too much teeth. “Good.” He said. “Can I tempt you to some lunch?”

The angel huffed. “I am an angel, you cannot tempt- is it sushi?”

The demon Crowley and the angel Aziraphale went to go get lunch. The angel quite enjoyed his food, but the demon was happy about something else completely.

He had just averted an apocalypse, without anyone knowing. 

And no one would ever know.

  
  


_Sometime in the present, since the present was always around and never ended…_

Crowley was in hell again.

Bugger all.

He doesn’t know how he was discorporated, or who/what did it, but now he’s here and he needed to get _out fast._

They might not remember the apocalypse, but he didn’t know if Lucifer had forgotten, and he didn’t want to find out.

And they _did_ remember his chumminess with his angel. That pissed them off, and he doesn’t have Aziraphale to take the holy water this time.

Someone had shut down the place where he usually got his body, but the place was still there and it still had bodies, so he got one and he didn’t even need to do any paperwork! 

But now he needed to find his usual backway out without being caught. No one had seen him yet, and if someone did they hadn’t recognized him. Yet.

He’s lucky his watch was set to London time. He had promised his angel a lunch, and he had about twenty minutes left. If it really went downhill and he didn’t have enough time, he’d fly to London. It’d hurt his wings like all hell but at least then Aziraphale wouldn’t worry.

There were sounds behind him. A door in front of him was open. Alarms started blaring.

Crowley knew it wasn’t an alarm for him. That was an angel alarm.

He knew it wasn’t Aziraphale. Being his adversary for so long gave him some type of sense to where he was, in the big sense. He knew if he went up to heaven or hell. And since the never-to-be-Apocalypse, Aziraphale had used some type of spell to make the connection stronger. If Crowley wanted to, he could tap into his emotions.

He hasn’t used it yet. He had blocked himself to hide where he was, but he did that often so Aziraphale wouldn’t think differently. Long story short, he knew the angel was still on earth, so no worry there.

The alarm wasn’t going off. There was more then one.

Thinking quickly, he ran into the open room and closed the door. There was a high pitch, brutal scream behind him.

Maybe he shouldn’t of come in here.

Turning around, he frowned at the sight. There were two human souls, one was torturing the other. Crowley wouldn’t of thought harder on it- humans are worse than demons, but something about the torturer was _all_ wrong. They had a gleaming white soul, something that almost burned Crowley just to look at. There was a film of taint on it, but it was like a blanket. Like it was dirt, something that could be taken off, with the right amount of grace.

Crowley’s grace couldn’t do it, as messed up as it was. Aziraphale could. And the angels down here right now.

Why’d he want to save this one soul?

Crowley shrugged. Maybe it was the familial sense that he got from it, for whatever reason that was. Whatever it was, why should he ignore it? He snapped his fingers, and the soul on the table disappeared, probably reappearing somewhere in the River Styx. Let some other religion deal with it.

The bright soul spun, but did nothing more. It was hurt too- mouth sewed shut, eyes pulled out, fingers missing. Crowley knew that certain style of torture. Everyone had been under Alaistar’s knife at least once. Crowley had just as much power as the demon, being a true demon himself, but they always chained him up with sigil carved cuffs, and that was enough to turn the tide.

The soul didn’t have a body, so there was nothing Crowley could heal, but the demon had this great thing called _imagination,_ so he pretended like the soul had one, and using his powers (which were much stronger in hell) miracled up something of a corporation for him to have.

The now more human soul gaped, completely healed. “What-how- Who the Hell are you?”

Crowley frowned. “I just gave you a body for free and that’s what you start off with? Rude.”

The human took a step back. “I’m still in hell, aren’t I? You're a demon?” He swallowed thickly. “You can’t do anything worse than Aliastar.”

Crowley snorted. “I don’t plan to, er-“ he stared at the soul. “-Dean. See, me and the other demons don’t get along. I saw you and decided to take Alaistar’s newest pet along with me. So, you comin?”

The human knew he didn’t really have any other choice, being in hell. He nodded, and Crowley checked outside before they both got a move on.

“We do have a problem.” Crowley said a little while later.

“Of course we do.” Dean murmured. “What’s that?”

“I can’t get you out of hell by myself.” Crowley glanced every which way as he went. “See, you’re too pure to be in hell, so an angel could get you, but I’m obviously not an angel. If you were tainted and in heaven then I’m your guy but-“

“So what do we do?” Dean cut the demon off, hating that he had to ask a _demon_ to save him.

“There are other angels down here right now.” Crowley explained. “I’m going to teleport you to them. I just need out of this layer to do so. Don’t want Lucifer catching a glimpse of me.”

Dean tilted his corporal head. “What, you're not buddy buddy with satan?”

“Not after I helped stop an apocalypse, no.” Crowley opened a door and pulled them through, stopping on the other side. “Here’s your stop.”

“Wait.” Dean struggled to a stop, still obviously getting use to having somewhat of a body again. “What’s your name? What do you mean, stopped an apocalypse?”

“Exactly what I said.” Crowley could feel the angelic and demonic entities getting closer. “No time for that story! And you probably won’t remember this anyway, so there’s no reason for a name!”

Crowley went to touch his forehead, but Dean grabbed his wrist. “Come on, it’s just a name!”

“Ugh!” Crowley hissed, actually hissed. “I’m the Serpent of Eden! Now go!”

Crowley touched Dean’s forehead, and was gone. No, Dean was gone, hopefully with the angels.

Crowley relaxed slightly, allowing himself a little pride. He couldn’t wait to tell his angel- Aziraphale’s been giving him prizes whenever he does something remotely good. And this, even if it did tic off Alaistar, was a good thing.

He wanted more pastries. He blames the sweet tooth on Aziraphale.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excuse. Me.  
> Who do ya’ll think you are? Giving me so many kudos and I haven’t even uploaded two chapters yet...  
> Give your kudos to someone who deserves them!

A hunter, an angel, and a demon walk into a bar. Who dies?

Well, the demon knows what he just walked into, and if he’s smart enough, he turns around and gets the hell outta there.

The angel has a duty towards heaven to protect humans, and if he’s faithful enough, he’ll smite the demon and leave.

The hunter, though, has free will, and if he’s skillful enough, will kill them both.

Good thing nothing ever goes to plan.

The demon is smart enough, the angel is faithful enough, and the hunter is skillful enough. They just decide not to kill each other.

Strange, huh?

Bobby Singer realized that these two weren’t doing anything to cause suspicion, yet. Being at the game long enough told him that these two were angel and demon, but they were… talking to each other. And if a being of supposed good and one of supposed evil could talk without fighting, then he wouldn’t fight either. 

He’d watch. And wait.

They were talking about random things, a dolphin and ducks and water with feathers? They had British accents, and the demon grumbled every now and then about someone named Adam and a lunch.

The angel (Bobby never really thought of it before but he was sure that it was an angel, even though he’s never seen one before and it looked nothing like how he’d imagine) turned towards him and smiled. A knowing smile.

He knew about Bobby. And he didn’t care. Not in a cocky not care way, but in a trusting way, which confused Bobby much more.

Maybe Angels were on human’s side. Maybe there was angels flying around and protecting people and doing holy work.

_(Ha)_

He wanted to talk to them, but at that moment he got a phone call. “Hello?”

“Bobby?” A voice he never thought he’d hear again said. “Bobby!”

“Dean?” He was dead but that _doesn’t_ matter, cause this _was him_ he _knew_ it and he could check later- “Where are you?”

The angel winked at him.

“Why’d you wink at that hunter, angel?”

“I dunno. Seemed like the thing to do.”

“You scared him away.”

“You didn’t like him either way, dear.”

“Hmph. I’m not drunk enough for this. Bars suck compared to pubs!”

It had been something of a long two days for Dean. He, surprisingly, slept like a rock yesterday, but he had kicked open his own coffin and clawed and dug his way out. Not to mention after, when someone tried to mug him. Of course, he disarmed the would-be mugger and took their phone, calling Bobby once Sam didn’t answer. The old hunter picked him up an hour or so later, and then he slept.

The second day wasn’t as good.

By 11pm, he had already woken up twice due to being scared awake by his nightmares. By 11:30, he had finished cleaning up all of his old weapons. By 12, he had made it to the closest bar.

Because there are five important things to know about Dean Winchester.

One) He loves his impala.

Two) He loves his brother.

Three) He loves pie.

Four) He’s an Aquarius.

And in the weekly astrology predictions in the Lower Tadfield tribune that a Mrs. Anathema Pulsifer was currently reading, it said:

**Aquarius [January 21- February 20]**

**You might be feeling hopeless, as something you are trying to accomplish just isn’t working. Do not give up hope. New and old friends will help you. Family is important to you. Introduce yourself to someone new. You may be vulnerable to a stomach upset today, so avoid salads.**

Everything on it was true, it just hadn’t happened yet. Well, except for the bit about salads. That wasn’t true at all.

And five) He’ll introduce himself to someone new.

This time, it was a particularly perky strawberry blonde who was at least 6 feet (without heels, no less-) and had some gorgeous brown eyes.

She also had a tattoo.

The tattoo was located on her stomach, impossible to see in a normal setting, but Dean’s great at seeing things others don’t usually. Well, he was good at getting people shirtless, and that allowed a very clear view.

The tattoo was the size of a fist and relatively new, a stark contrast to her pale skin. It was mostly an apple, with a snake curled around it every which way. There was a bite taken out of the apple.

He asked about it after. She glanced at it, as if just remembering it was there. “My family’s super religious, and I’m super not. Got my uncle to let me get it as a way to rebel.” She said. 

“My faith’s rusty.” Dean said, and it really was. “The apple I get, but what’s it all mean?”

“It’s the apple after Eve took a bite out of it, and they were banned from Eden.” The women (what’s her name?) said. “The Serpent of Eden took the apple afterwards. My family doesn’t approve of tattoos or of sins, especially not the first one.”

Dean wrinkled his nose. “Serpent of Eden, eh? I wonder-“ he shot up as his last memory of hell resurfaced in his mind. Something wasn’t right.

Dean wasn’t shameful, so he never had a walk of shame. He didn’t have it that night, either. Even though he left most of his clothes in his haste.

It had been a week of no progress in anything Dean wanted to progress. Sam had come back, and he found out about the angel stalking and watching him while he slept. 

His name was Cas, and he was a stick in the mud, but Dean would change that. That was his solemn vow.

It was actually Cas who helped Sam and Dean out one day.

“Why are we doing this again?” Sam groaned. “There’s nothing here on the Serpent of Eden besides the Bible.”

“I have’a hunch, Sammy.” Dean grunted, flicking through another book. They had already scoured the internet. “We need to find this guy.”

“You keep saying guy, like you know.” Sam said, annoyed. “And why do we need to find him? To kill him?”

“What? No-“ Dean paused. The Serpent was a demon, he knew, and an important one. He made original sin. So why didn’t Dean want to kill the bastard? He saved him, yeah, but demons have alternative motives. “I want to talk to him. Something’s going on and he might know what.”

Sam sighed. “You’re making no sense, Dean. Maybe you need more sleep, you just came back from hell.”

“I don’t need sleep!” Dean almost yelled, and he really didn’t. He hasn’t slept well in a week. Nightmares haunted him every night, and he would wake in a sweat. Sometimes Cas woke him, sometimes he woke himself. He didn’t need sleep. “All it does is turn Cas into an angelic Edward Cullen!”

And speak of the devil (angel-) Cas appeared. “You said my name?”

“What, no, Cas-“ Dean sighed, too tired to put up with this. And he had a headache, go figure. And he still can’t find-

Dean almost shot up out of his seat. “Cas! What do you know of the Serpent of Eden?”

The angel tilted his head in a curious stare. “My knowledge on that time of history is limited. It was a little before I was born, but I know the story.”

Dean sighed quietly. Cas speaks sincerely, but Dean’s learn to take it with a grain of salt, since the angels were obviously bias as all hell.

Sam, though, was inraptured quickly, humming almost happily.

“The Serpent was the first fallen to escape to earth after being cast into hell.” Cas started. “He was tasked by Lucifer to show our Father that humans could sin. He crawled into Eden and enticed Eve to take a bite out of the Apple of Eden.”

Good knowledge, but Dean already knew all of this. “Anything else?”

“No. I’m afraid not.” Cas squinted. “Why do you wish to know about such a foul creature?”

Dean grimaced. “Maybe he’s not so bad.” The bewildered looks he got made him start over. “Okay, Yeah, I know. Probably a great big bag of dicks, but, I think he’s important.”

Sam stared at him almost the same way Cas did in that moment, but whereas Cas is confused Sam is more curious. And understanding. His little brother can figure him out.

Before they could speak anymore, a book on top of Bobby’s shelf fell off, landing on Sam’s head with a ‘clunk’ and falling to the floor. Sam groaned, rubbing his head. “What the hell?”

Dean chuckled, a welcome distraction, before picking up the book. “Hey, Cas. What did you say the Serpent was?”

Cas turned back towards him. “He’s a fallen angel. They’re stronger then regular demons. Depending on their rank, they’re stronger then some angels, too.”

Dean dropped the book on the table. “Last case resort, then.”

The book, in a fancy, curly font, read, ‘ _The Nice and Accurate Demonic Summoning Techniques and Connected Prophecies by Agnes Nutter._ ’

Because, of course, Agnes Nutter was always prepared, and had that book sent and stowed there before Bobby even owned the place.

Several hours before that, Castiel was having his own meeting, with someone he hadn’t seen in a very long time.

The angel across from him sipped quietly at his tea. “Castiel, it’s been a long time, dear.”

He had an accent, but that barely reached Cas’ ears. Aziraphale, for a very short but very important time, had mentored Castiel in swordsmanship. That was all it was supposed to be, but he also took in Aziraphale’s faith and love in God. When Aziraphale was sent down, Cas at first wanted to go down with him, but Aziraphale had forbidden it. He was still a fledgling at the time, and Aziraphale had an adversary which, at the time, would definitely use the baby angel against him.

Aziraphale was also the reason why Cas, now, was a little confused. He had a seedling of… doubt in him. What if his orders weren’t actually God’s? It was one of the reasons Cas was finding him now.

“To long.” He said gruffly. “Have you heard of my mission?”

“Er, no.” Aziraphale looked sheepish. “Heaven lost contact with me a couple years ago. What happened, are you okay?”

Suddenly the older angel was scanning him, and Cas pulled his hidden wings up tighter, hiding most of the hellish taint on him. “I am well to serve.” He said.

Aziraphale tilted his head. “That means nothing up in Heaven, dear, and you know that! Where was your mission, I can see traces of demon on you.”

“I went to hell.” Cas admitted. “To save the righteous man.” He looked down, ashamed. “But I was too late, and the first seal was broken.”

“Oh.” Was the other angel’s soft voice. “I see.”

And suddenly he was being hugged.

“What… What are you doing, brother?” Cas asked, absolutely confused. Soldiers don’t hug, and they were both soldiers. He doesn’t remember the last time affection was really shown to him.

Oh wait, he does. That was Aziraphale, too. Right before he left.

“Humans do it, dear.” Aziraphale backed up. “And I found that it helps. Now, how bad is the damage?”

Cas grimaced, before unwinching his wings. Since his grace manifested in his wings, it was the best place to see the damage. His usually blue wings were grey, and a quarter of feathers on one of his wings was gone, shredded by easy to see claw marks. One of the demons got the jump on him.

“Oh no.” Aziraphale breathed, before his eyes went hard in rage. “No one’s healed these yet?!”

Cas blinked. “No. They are not fatal, and I need to protect the righteous man at all times-“

“Oh bloody- Castiel, if you don’t get them healed, they’ll get worse!” Aziraphale moves forward, making sure to not actually touch the wings before spreading his hands out. Any crooked or ruffled feathers aligned themselves, and those cut in half grew back. It wasn’t much, but without touching, it was all he could do.

Cas’ face changed a fraction, and Aziraphale realized that the minute change was his face relaxing. There wasn’t as much pain. “Thank you.”

“Of course, dear.” Aziraphale nodded. “I can heal them more if you allow me to touch them.”

Cas nodded after a moment. Angel wings were private, but in the way that a bathroom was private. Most of the times, you don’t go in together, but when one friend is throwing up the other has to be there to pat their back and hold up their hair.

But, you know, holy hair. Holy feathers.

Aziraphale healed the wings as much as possible, but the grace where the demon had scratched would scar unless God or Raphael fixed it. It was impossible to see now, behind the new grown (blue, not grey) feathers Aziraphale miracled in, but it was there.

Cas stretched them for a moment, before winching them back. “This is very much appreciated. I am in your favor.”

Aziraphale snorted. “Please, dear, no you’re not. Do you not remember the wall?”

Cas, in that short few months of being an apprentice, found Aziraphale wounded by the eastern gate of Eden, bitten by a very poisonous snake that he said he thought was someone else. The poison wouldn’t kill him but it would be a painful process to fix just by himself. Cas had managed to heal him with his fledgling grace (which is like normal grace on steroids).

“Yes, I do.” Cas said. “But how does it correlate to this?”

Aziraphale looked at him for a long moment, before sighing. “Nevermind, forget it. Would you like some tea?”

A few tea cups later, Cas went into why he really appeared here. “I… have a problem.”

“Oh?” Aziraphale arched an eyebrow and smiled. “What is it?”

Cas told him about his doubts with the heavenly authorities, about how he doesn’t know if they are relaying God’s orders to him anymore. About how he came to him because he used to be a mentor, and that he had been away from heaven but still with God and it was all very angelic and religious you understand.

“So…” Aziraphale said after a moment of quiet. “You want advice?”

“I would appreciate it.” Cas said gruffly, with a slight softness to it.

Aziraphale opened his mouth, before closing it again. He shuffled forward in his seat, before laying a hand on his brother’s. “God’s plan is ineffable, Castiel, only He knows what will happen, and He will not tell anyone else what it is. Be suspicious of those who say they know, and stay true to what you believe. Stay true to God, not heaven, but God, and you will not fall. You will not fail unless He wants you to.”

“But what…” Cas paused. “What if God has left?”

Aziraphale pinched his lips. “Have you ever heard the humans say, ‘even after death, they are with you in your heart?’ God is never gone, because He is in the hearts of everyone, with or without faith.”

Cas nodded slowly, before his head shot up. “I’m being called.” He announced. “I must go.”

“Oh, okay- Wait!” Aziraphale grabbed Cas’ wrist to stop him. “You don’t have to obey Heaven to be right, Castiel. I have been down here on my own for 6 thousand years, and I am still as much as an angel as anyone else.”

Cas nodded and disappeared.

Aziraphale looked around his new library and sighed. He could tell what the younger angel was really afraid of. He didn’t want to fall, to be damned. Aziraphale knew it wasn’t all bad, since Crowley seemed to like it, but he could guess that something they were teaching up there really made it seem worse than it was.

He just hoped that he gave his former apprentice some faith of his own. Aziraphale was telling the truth, not believing in heaven won't make you fall. But having no faith will.

He stopped thinking about the conversation after that, since his mind was occupied by the new book of Native American folklore and prophecies he just got. First edition, of course. And quiet hefty.

He wasn’t seen for the next couple days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok.... you guys are a lil scary...  
> I kinda expected to upload this and it be invisible to the whole world. I didn’t expect this much so fast....  
> I think I’m a little overwhelmed. Huh. That’s a new one. But thank you, everyone. 
> 
> I didn’t think i’d have this problem but I’m kinda mixing the characters with other characters the actors have played, so if Crowley turns into the Doctor for no reason in particular that one’s on me.
> 
> Disclaimer- I’m an American, and I’m making fun of myself. Lemme be self deprecating in my own story, darn you!

Both Bobby and Sam thought Dean was acting weird. From what Sam says, it’s stemming from a fallen angel called the Serpent of Eden. Bobby knew of the demon, and the fact that he was making Dean act weird wasn’t sitting well with him either.

So they decided to see the problem itself, right in front of them. Bobby got the book and materials and Sam did the lifting. Sam was the one who did the spell, since he actually memorized it. Seconds later, after a lot of smoke, a soft hiss filled the room. “What the hell…”

“Oh.” Bobby murmured. “He’s British.”

The smoke cleared and a man dressed like something a devil might wear (if he enjoyed any punk rock) was in view. The man glanced around, looking at the wards before settling on the humans. “Oh for Go-Sata- someone’s sake! How many times do I have to tell people, you got the wrong demon! I don’t do deals!” The demon sniffed, annoyed. “I am going to kill that crossroads demon.”

Sam didn’t know if he was talking about Crowley, but he was in agreement with (hopefully) the Serpent on that accord. “You're the Serpent of Eden, right?”

The man took off his sunglasses and did a mock bow. His eyes were yellow, and it put both Sam and Bobby on edge. Not another one. “Oh, so you were looking for me?” He looked around. “What’s with this fire? I’m a demon, this doesn’t affect me.”

Sam was worried about that. That’s why they had the ring of fire _and_ the demonic seal. “We want to know what you did to my brother.”

The demon raised an eyebrow. “And how do you expect me to know who you’re talking about?” The man groaned. “Bloody Americans, so full of themselves!”

Sam didn't comment on that particular insult, instead narrowing his eyes. “My brother, Dean. He won’t stop talking about you.”

“And if you don’t tell us what you did.” Bobby continued. “We’ll kill you right here and now.”

The demon scoffed. “How, you’ll exorcise me or something? Only works when I’m stealing a body. This one is mine- picked it out and everything. Even trimmed it’s hair.” The demon paused. “Did you say Dean?”

Sam’s trigger finger raised slightly. “Yes, we did.”

“Oh!” The demon snapped his fingers, as if remembering. “Yeah, Dean. Saw him in hell, doin’ a splendid job, torturing the damned and the likes. He was Aliastar’s prized pet, so I thought it’d be funny to set him free and send him towards the angels.”

Sam paused. Out of everything he was expecting, it was not that a demon had helped his brother escape hell. “What?”

“Oh yeah.” The demon nodded in remembrance. “It seemed like they were gunning for him anyway, but they wouldn’t of made it down far enough before they were overrunned. Wow, I’m saving humans and angels now. Not very demonic of me.”

“This is a load of bull!” Bobby spit out, even though the demon was familiar in some way. He waved around a bottle of holy water. “Give us the truth, demon!”

The demon’s personality changed in an instant as the holy water came into view. “Oh hell.” He hissed. “I would love for my friend Aziraphale to come and help me out. At any time!”

“Calling for help won’t work.” Sam said, relieved to see that holy water was enough of an incentive to talk. “Tell us what you did!”

“Nothing!” The demon yelled, backing up as far as possible. “Nothing! Aziraphale!”

Several things happened at once.

Bobby uncapped the holy water, splashing it in the demon’s general direction. At the same time, Dean walked in and saw what they were doing. He had just yelled ‘stop’ when it happened, but at the time he had only made it to the o, so it sounded like ‘stoa’ instead of stop. Lastly, someone else had entered the room.

A man Bobby recognized from a week before stood in front of him, two fingers pressed over the hole for the bottle, keeping any liquid from leaving. The demon heaved a big sigh as the other (the angel, Bobby remembered) brushed off his fingers with a handkerchief and turned around, smearing one of the signals with just a look. “Are you okay, dear?”

“Assss well asss I can be.” The demon hissed, literally hissed. He didn’t move from his spot, but he flexed his fingers, like he could feel the difference. The fire around him went out. “You took your time.”

“Dear, I can’t just be on your beck and call.” The angel huffed. “I was meeting with an old friend.”

“Yeah, well-“ The demon flailed his arms, as if thinking. “Alright, fair enough.”

“Can someone explain-“ Dean was pissed, that was easy to see. “What the hell is going on?”

“I’d like to know too!” The demon said. “I don’t like bein’ summoned and then almost killed. And I did a good thing this time, too!” He turned to Aziraphale with a pout. “This is what I get for bein’ nice!”

Aziraphale patted his shoulder. “Now, why did you summon Crowley?”

The name gave everyone pause, and Sam brandished a knife. “Crowley?” He growled. “You got yourself a new meat suit, didn’t you?”

“Why’d you save me?” Dean asked. “You put me there!”

“Woah!” Crowley raised his hands in surrender. “I did no such thing! You’re talking about the other Crowley, probably.” He frowned, before murmuring. “I knew I should’ve killed him.”

“There’s…” Sam looked befuddled. “Two Crowleys?”

“‘Course!” The demon raised his hands. “Kinda a big shot in hell, you know. Of course lesser demons would take my name.” He crossed his arms. “They actually understand the importance of what I do. They’ve modernized.”

“What do you do?” Bobby asked slowly.

“Why, What do all demons do?” Crowley looked at him like he was stupid. “I tempt people! Granted, I do it better then most, but on a ground level, i-“

Sam had raised his gun again. “So you’re no better then others. You possess someone’s body and use it to ruin people’s lives!”

“Now, dear.” Aziraphale stepped into the way again, and suddenly he was holding Sam’s gun. “That’s not what he said. And what do you mean, possess? These are our own bodies.”

“Right.” Crowley crossed his arms. “And I don’t ruin lives, you lot do well enough without me. I tempt, I don’t force and I definitely don’t possess. Your bodies are much to… urk, for my preferences.”

“But you have a body.” Bobby tried not to snap, but did anyway.

“Yeah.” Crowley looked at him, as if stupidfied that he didn’t understand. “One fresh from hell. Look, I dunno what other kind of demons you kill are like, but they’re not me.”

“So you’re saying you’re different?” Sam scoffed.

“Sammy.” Dean barked. “How are we going to get answers if you keep interrupting?” He was on Sam’s side, but he and Bobby had decided to summon a powerful demon without him, for him, and that pissed him off just a smudge.

Not only was he pissed, though, he was confused. When Aziraphale showed himself, something inside him burned in happiness, like he’d just seen his long lost family member. Like he just saw his long lost brother. He felt memories pulse against the back of his skull, him teaching sword fighting to some young thing with wings? 

“Thank you!” Crowley threw up his hands. “Are all Americans so barbaric? This is why I rarely visit, I don’t need too!” He looked at Aziraphale. “You have no idea- the amount of accommodations I’ve gotten just by stepping over here...”

“Not the time.” The angel chided. “Now, um, let's all have a civil conversation about this… how about over a cup of tea?”

With a wave of a hand there was now a table with plush comfy chairs, a tea set on top with already full cups.

Surprisingly, it was Dean who sat down first. “How about coffee and a pie instead?”

Crowley narrowed his eyes, but Aziraphale just beamed at the hunter for trying. A slice of cherry pie and a mug appeared before him, and he took only a few seconds of inspection before digging in.

Sam gaped at his brother. Something was wrong, since Dean was way to paranoid to just start eating something an angel just snapped into existence. From Cas, maybe, but that’s a maybe. He’s still cautious around the angel. “Dean!”

Dean looked up, face half covered in red pie. To be honest, he doesn’t know why he just did that. The thing is, he knows he did it willingly, he could just tell. Why, though, he doesn’t know. Dean’s pretty good at reading people, and whereas creatures are a little harder, he’s not sensing _anything_ malicious. More fear than anger, and that’s all from Crowley, who did save him.

And he didn’t just feel that. He felt… love? He felt some type of familial love towards the angel and demon, and he really didn’t understand why.

“It’s fine, Sammy.” Dean finished the pie. “Let’s listen, and then we’ll decide.”

“He’s a demon!” Sam protested.

“And Ruby’s not?” Dean retorted, catching his little brother’s eye. “Thought I didn’t know or something?”

Crowley snorted. “Ruby?” He asked. “The demon Ruby? That little manipulative bastard? You know her?” He had started to hiss again. “Oh, I need to have _words_ with her.”

“What’d she do to you?” Dean asked as the others finally sat down. 

“Nothing.” Crowley sprawled out on his own chair. “Little bitch and her crew practically worshiped me in the earlier days- I was the first demon to ever crawl out of Hell. But then they started killing in my name and that brought so much bad PR from the upside.”

“Heaven was quite testy during those times.” Aziraphale agreed. “They were killing believers, then, you see. Priests and nuns and the like. They sent me out to… deal with it all.”

“Wasn’t that the last time you ever discoporated me?” Crowley murmured, looking at the angel with a tilted frown.

“I think so, dear.” Aziraphale said, Crowley nodded, waving his hand. Sushi appeared in a plate in front of the angel, and a glass of champagne in front of the demon.

Dean had momentarily forgotten that he didn’t trust these guys. Maybe he forgot because something told him to trust them. “Why did you do it?” He asked once he remembered. “Why did you free me?”

Crowley paused, finishing his drink and leaning back. “I’ve been meaning to get back at Aliastar for years now. You just seemed like the perfect way of doing so.”

Aziraphale slapped at Crowley’s shoulder, missing the first time but landing the second. “Oh, we both know that’s not true.” He turned to Dean, leaning forward slightly. “He’s actually always hated when souls that are meant for heaven end up in hell, it hits a personal point with him.”

Crowley groaned, as if upset for being exposed. “Angel…”

Aziraphale just beamed at him, completely unafraid of their environment.

(Probably because no one knew that he had already emptied the bullets out of all of their guns, transported their knives into the back of the garage, and taken anything else deadly off their bodies. Yes, they were quite safe.)

Dean could see when something was about to go into a totally different direction then they need, so he cut in there. “How many people have you guys killed?”

Both of them, Dean noted in relief, looked appalled at the question. “Kill?” Crowley asked. “I don- I don’t kill people.” He huffed, offended. “Anyone who’s good at their job doesn’t need to kill people to make it work. Maybe these new demons haven’t modernized as much as I thought.”

“Wait.” Sam cut in. “So you’re saying you’ve never murdered someone? Ever?”

“No, I most definitely have.” Crowley put his feet on the table and leaned back, arms crossed. “I’ve killed my fair share of demons, the annoying buggers my side is. I’ve killed Aziraphale a good amount of times-“

“-74 times, dear-“

“Oh yes, thanks. Humans, though? I don’t kill humans, it’d make my job null. Humans have to have been tempted and sinned, if I just kill them then they’ll go to heaven, and hell’ll have me on a rack.”

Aziraphale was nodding pleasantly along, as if he knew all of this beforehand. Dean doesn’t understand, but something about the fact that a demon and angel could work together and be friendly to each other, it made them seem more genuine.

(Lets forget about the fact that the demon was wearing sunglasses inside, which immediately made him either blind _or_ a douche.)

That’s why Dean leaned in and asked the big one. “What do you know of the seals and stopping the apocalypse?”

Surprisingly, Crowley just leaned in as well. “Why do you think we’re in America to begin with?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I’m not afraid of anything, but that...  
> *Kudos 200+*  
> Me: That scares me


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m starting to think that you all like this fic or something...  
> Or maybe you just want me to die from amazement...

So, apparently this wasn’t the first apocalypse.

That quite literally but Dean’s Head into a loop.

From what Crowley and Aziraphale explained, they had helped stop another apocalypse a few years back, one involving an Antichrist instead of seals. Said antichrist, named after the original man, Adam, was now a grown man, who informed them of this apocalypse and brought them over.

“Without our permission.” Crowley groaned. “We were at the Ritz.”

As if that explained anything.

And the thing was, their story did line up. The day of the apocalypse, where everyone lost their memory, the internet did too. Old stories online about the mass hallucinations of a kraken, of Atlantis, of aliens and nuclear power plants all happened the day before, and the day of everyone around the world had sudden memory lost. Nothing showed up for that day, no articles or newspapers or anything. It’s like that day never happened. And then the next day everything was back to normal.

“How do you plan to help?” Sam asked afterwards, seemingly much more inclined to believe now. “And why would you help? Doesn’t he’ll want the seals broken?”

“Don’t misunderstand.” Aziraphale said, for once deadly serious. “Heaven wants those seals broken, too. Their younger angels might be fighting to keep them sealed, but the ones in charge want an apocalypse. We don’t.”

“Both sides are boring to be on without the other.” Crowley continued. “And humans are funny little things, but they can prove to be unpredictable. We don’t want humanity to be gone.”

“And if one side wins.” Dean added on, a smug little smile plastered on his face. “You’ll be separated from each other.”

The tips of Crowley’s ears turned red (which made Dean smile even more) but Aziraphale just nodded. “We’ve been roaming the earth for 6 thousand years with nothing but humans and each other. I’ve gotten quite used to Crowley, and I wouldn’t want to lose him.”

“Thanks, angel.” Crowley murmured. “And it’s the same for me. We have our own ways to protect seals. Since there aren’t any angels on earth that actually know what heaven is planning, they’re protecting the seals as well. We’ve been going around placing alarms and traps on those we find.” 

Aziraphale tilted his head. “Two have gone off since we’ve been here.”

Bobby blinked, before grumbling out, “Were they broken?”

Crowley smirked. “What do you think the traps were for?”

Dean leaned back, crossing his arms. “Alright.” He decided. “I can trust you for now.” He paused, before adding, “don’t break it.”

“Of course not!” The angel looked offended at even the assumption.

It was quiet for a moment, before Dean spoke back up, digging into his pocket. “The reason I even came in here was to show you something I found in that book.”

He took out the book, ignoring the slight squeal Aziraphale made at the cover and opening it up to a bookmarked page, handing it to Sam. He read it over rapidly, before looking up. “You think it’s a seal?”

“And a pretty important one, at that.” Dean agreed, looking over it once more. “ _ The coward is not as cowardly as they say. Once the gleam and gloom of earth destroy another, the seal will break, and the hound will be free to roam and start the end. _ ”

“Oh.” Aziraphale muttered. “Oh, dear.”

Bobby had sat in slightly confused thought, but at that he sat up. “What?”

Crowley waved the question away. “There’s no reason to worry about that seal. We made sure it would never break, a long time ago.”

Dean raised an eyebrow. The angel looked nervous, but the demon was relaxed, and that in itself set him off. “You sure?”

Crowley looked at him from behind his sunglasses. “It’s getting dark out. I can hear some demons- they’ve come across another seal.” He tipped an imaginary hat. “I think we need to get going.”

Aziraphale didn‘t even seem to hear, but then Crowley tapped him and he jumped, both of them disappearing in a flap of wings.

Dean finished the pie he had forgotten and left, now even more sure that the mystery seal found in Agnes Nutter’s book was important.

It was the page right after Crowley’s summoning ritual.

There are some things that are very important to know about all of the lesser angels. Angels born after the creation of the world, angels like Castiel.

One) they were raised like robots by higher ups, not like how god raised the archangels, or like how the archangels raised those that they connected with. They had no love but their love for duty and heaven.

Two) They have been lied to their entire lives. Once an angel falls, they usually become severely upset, since they slowly learn that everything they knew was a lie and their faith in heaven turns into hatred. If they learn this and manage not to fall, they go through an education that completely wipes their mind of all rebellious thoughts. Some angels entire jobs were to find those that did defect, and educate them. Ever since the failed apocalypse, many of these angels have been trying to find a certain Aziraphale, but they’ve been to scared to go after him.

Three) Most of these angels don’t have mentors. An angel could only mentor if they themselves had a mentor, and the only angels who could mentor without a mentor are the archangels, who were mentored by God him/herself. Aziraphale is special in the way that he was actually meant to be mentored by Raphael, hence his name, for healing, but Michael saw him during a session once and took up teaching the angel fighting instead. He said the tyke had a strange fire in his eyes. Aziraphale learned both healing and fighting for a time, until most of Raphael’s apprentices died during the war, and grief stricken, he stopped mentoring all together. From there, Aziraphale finished learning from Michael, and went to guard the eastern gate. Since almost all of the apprentices of all the archangels either fell or died in that first war, the archangels stopped mentoring, and there were only a few left that could do so. Aziraphale use to be a popular choice, but he only did it once, with Castiel.

Four) Lesser angels are all Scorpios. And in the Daily tribune astrology section that a certain Ms. Pepper is laughing over right now, it reads:

**Scorpio [October 21-November 20]**

**You feel indecisive over a two sided fight. Each side wants your approval. Neutrality is most important. Think outside of the box. Eating more sweets might improve your mood. Love something unacceptable. You may be vulnerable to a stomach upset today, so avoid salads.**

Everything on it was true, it just hadn’t happened yet. Well, except for the bit about salads. That wasn’t true at all. Castiel couldn’t even feel pain, so he didn’t need to worry about stomach upsets.

What he was worried about was his thoughts.

They were thoughts he shouldn’t be having. He was almost sure that heaven was hiding from him, and he was… curious about it. Very curious, which is something he’s never been before. This strange affliction only started after he started watching over Dean, who was dead set on making Castiel see and experience trivial human hobbies. He even gave him a nickname. Cas.

Cas’ never had a nickname before. Aziraphale use to call him ‘dear’, but he had a feeling that that was a different thing all together. He’d been with the humans for so long, he must’ve picked up some of their habits.

Aziraphale was another problem. Aziraphale was an example- an angel could be far away from heaven and not fall. An angel could act like a human and still be tied to God. Aziraphale doesn’t trust -and probably doesn’t listen- to heaven and he’s still an angel. Just have faith.

Faith.

Faith in what?

It took him awhile to realize that a demon was watching him. He had just finished watching over the sleeping Dean Winchester and had decided to go on patrol. At some point, his thoughts had gotten to be to much and so he just sat down, deep in the junkyard. The house was hidden behind rubbish.

The demon itself was horrid but beautiful, to an extent. This one was definitely possessing a body, which made it easier to see what truly hid underneath. Blood red thorns, sharp claws, black eyes, hair like seaweed, it wasn’t the worst but it definitely wasn’t the best. No wings meant she wasn’t a true demon, so Cas didn’t worry much there.

The body she stole, though, was beautiful in a sad way, because Cas knew it was only a body. The person’s soul had long since left. Or worse.

She had been watching for awhile now, Cas doesn’t know how long but he started paying attention around a hour ago and she hadn’t moved from her spot. Cas hadn’t either, more confused and curious then anything else. He could easily smite her, why didn’t she seem afraid?

“I will show you mercy.” Cas decided, finally turning to look at her. “Leave and you will not die.”

“Aw.” The girl smiled, and behind the flesh the demon smiled as well. It was, surprisingly, a normal smile. “But I like my seat. I got a comfy pillow and a pretty view.”

The demon underneath her skin shifted, and Cas sighed. Honestly, it was like having double vision, and focusing was impossible. He concentrated on her outside appearance, focusing until the demon underneath was barely a ghost. It was safer to concentrate on the outer version, because where the demon underneath was stoic the woman it wore was emotional.

“Pretty view?” Cas asked, tilting his head and looking around. Once he could only see the body, it was somewhat easy to forget that she was in fact a demon and needed to be destroyed. “There is only trash here.”

The demon whistled. “Wow, you sure are a clueless one.” She crossed her legs with a smirk.

Cas bristled, more from the tone then the actual words. “What are you doing here, demon?”

“Watching you.” She said easily. “What are you doing here, angel? I’ve never seen you around, before.”

“That information is not yours to know.” Cas replied, and why wasn’t he smiting yet? It’d be so easy. “Now leave.”

The girl pouted. “But we were getting along so well.” She finally stood, taking a step closer. “I know what you’re doing. Watching the Winchester boys, right?”

Cas froze. “If you-“

“I’m not going to hurt ‘em.” The demon waved the thought away. “Goes against my orders, actually. And besides, why go after them-“ she licked her lips. “-when something much more appealing is right here?”

Okay… he was confused. What was she trying to do? He’s never seen it before, so it had to be something that only a demon or human did. It looks kind of like what he’s seen girls do when they talk to Dean at a bar.

Oh.

The demon had gotten much closer, and he held out an arm to stop her. “There is nothing appealing here to see.” He insisted.

“You sure about that?” At his glare, she finally backed off, throwing up her hands in faux surrender. “Alright, stopping. Sooner or later, though…”

Cas frowned. “Never.”

She shrugged. “Never’s a long time. What’s your name, pretty boy?”

Cas frowned some more. “That information is not needed.” He grumbled.

The demon, on the other hand, seemed to ignored him. “You look like a Clarence. Did I guess right? Clarence?” She shrugged. “Guess I’m calling you Clarence now.”

He was annoyed now, even though he’s never really been annoyed before. That in itself was kind of… thrilling. He could smite her, but then she wouldn’t be able to make him feel other strange emotions, like anger. “My name is Castiel.”

The demon paused. “Nah, I like Clarence better.” She checked her watch, before backing up. “Thanks for making the time pass quicker. See you later, Clarence.”

As she left, Cas realized something important that all humans did when meeting someone. “What is your name?” He called.

She stopped, tilting her head as if considering before speaking. “Meg. Call me Meg.”

Then she was gone.

Sam practically pounced on the angel the next time he saw him. “What are true vessels?”

Aziraphale was startled, rightly so, and had almost spilled tea on his clothes. Ever since Crowley’s summoning, he had set up shop in the town near to Bobby’s house. It was a good place to hold any new books he collected until he could bring them back to his London library, and this town was in dire need of books anyway, their old library small and almost useless.

Well, in Aziraphale’s angelic opinion, anyway.

Sam and Dean had been cooped up at Bobby’s for a few days now, going through every single book Bobby owned, now less focused on Dean’s ethereal and occultal problems and more focused on this-seal-is-important-and-our-resident-apocalypse-stoppers-aren’t-helping problem. They hadn’t seen Cas is a while, either, and since Dean was too stubborn to call him for some reason they were on their own. Sam had finally finished the last book at 4 something in the morning, and had found nothing about the seal besides the fact that true vessels had something to do with a apocalypse. Not  _ the _ Apocalypse, but  _ a _ apocalypse. There’s more then one way to start it, apparently.

It wasn’t much of a lead, but it was all Sam had and he had just finished another cup of coffee so he didn’t even bother trying to get to sleep. He had heard from Bobby that a library had opened up in town, and decided to try there for any information. He didn’t bring Dean because his brother was finally sleeping and he needed it.

Sam would think it was luck if he had any, but he knows he doesn’t.

Aziraphale placed the cup of tea down, tempted to teleport the human back to his house. It was obvious that he hadn’t slept at all in the past few days, and if he was looking bad then his brother was worse. But the boy (to Aziraphale, he was a boy. A rather tall boy, but still a boy, since he was thousands of years older) seemed excited, and what was he asking about?

“How did you get in here?” Aziraphale asked, arching an eyebrow. “I know I locked the doors.” He flicked his wrist, making sure that they were locked anyway, just in case.

Sam had the decency to look sheepish. “Picked the lock. Couldn’t wait till morning. Now, what are true vessels?”

Aziraphale forgave the boy quickly, mostly because of his pure joy of knowledge and the boyish bounce in his step as he looked in wonder at his books. “True vessels are humans with bodies strong enough to house an angel.” Aziraphale explained.

Sam paused from his looks of amazement. “What? Angels can’t just jump into whoever says yes?”

Aziraphale shook his head. “Angels can’t inhabit bodies like demons can. Lesser angels can inhabit a select few willing participants, who are regular vessels. A true vessel, however, is a human whose body was designed for the purpose of housing a certain angel. Every angel has a true vessel out there, there’s usually one every few centuries. An angel is more powerful in their true vessel, which is why most angels and fallen angels look for them.”

Sam took a moment before nodding. “Crowley’s a fallen angel, right? So he has to get someone to say yes to inhabit them. But he says he has his own body.”

Aziraphale nodded, pleased by his questions. He may not of been a mentor for long, but he oh so loved teaching younglings! “He does have his own body, custom made just for him. As do I. In fact, I just talked to the young woman who’s my true vessel a couple years ago. She was a child at the time, but she should be an adult by now. The thing is, we don’t need our true vessels, because we made our own bodies.”

Sam spoke when Aziraphale paused. “So Crowley wasn’t lying? You guys didn’t steal those?”

Aziraphale huffed. “Of course not, dear. A long time ago, lesser angels would have a custom made body for them, if they so choose to visit earth. They are almost as strong as our true vessel, but there is no soul to say yes to, which makes it easier for us. Sadly, that department closed down quite a long time ago. Angels and true demons stopped using them in favor of inhabiting living people.” He shivered, as if that creeped him out slightly.

Sam was still confused, albeit less so. “You keep on saying lesser angels.”

Aziraphale’s head snapped up, before he brightened. “Oh yes, Archangels. When humans talk of true vessels, they mostly talk of the Archangels. You see, all angels have power in their grace, but an Archangel’s power is so strong that someone who wasn’t their true vessel would die trying to contain it. An Archangel can only use their true vessel to visit earth, but whereas lesser angels get new true vessels every now and then, an Archangel only has one true vessel.” He paused, frowning slightly as if something had occurred to him. “The vessels are only born when the apocalypse is scheduled to happen.”

Sam frowned as well, then. “Is there a way to tell who is a true vessel?”

“No.” Aziraphale shook his head. “Only the angel of the true vessel can tell. It’s a way of protecting the vessels from other angels or demons.”

Sam groaned, leaning back in the chair he hadn’t realized he sat in. “If the demons are breaking the seals in hopes of freeing Lucifer, who is a fallen Archangel and therefore has a true vessel, is it safe to assume that his true vessel has already been born?”

Something wiggled at the back of Aziraphale’s head. Something that snapped out, something that said to kill Sam. He didn’t know what it was, and quickly discarded it. “If Lucifer’s true vessel has been born.” Aziraphale said somberly. “Then Michael’s true vessel has been born, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I miss Meg, but I’m not good at writing her.  
> They were the Aziraphale and Crowley of Supernatural for a bit, if you think about it. There were a couple of people like that, but I liked them the most.  
> Shoutout to Meg, Cas, and the Pizza Man!


	5. Chapter 4

It was discovered soon after the last failed apocalypse that not everything was what it seemed to be, up in Heaven. The truth is, Michael had locked himself up soon after the fall of Lucifer, and hadn’t been seen by anyone besides the other Archangels since. Gabriel had left soon after, destroyed by what had happened to his family. Raphael never stepped up to take Michael’s place, and instead spent most of his time with the locked away prince of heaven.

In their stead, however, a few of the strongest angels had come together. The strongest took the appearance of the last form Michael ever looked like, a female, and pretended to be him. The second strongest did the same for Gabriel, and then the others went around, spreading lies about the return of the prince and messenger. The angels, distraught from their lost, clung onto anything that could make them feel better, and believed them.

Now, the angels had somewhat good intentions. They wanted their commanders to come back. They thought, though, that the only way to do that was to bring on the apocalypse, so they did.

They failed, of course. Soon after they were found out and put into re-education. For the ten or fifteen years after, heaven dealt with the powershift that emerged. The stronger angels kept the less strong angels in line by pretending that their orders were from the prince. It worked, somewhat, and those that doubted were re-educated.

The prince did nothing to stop it, he barely even paid attention. Neither did the healer.

When one of the angels listened into a conversation between the two, though, and heard Michael talk about his true vessel, he immediately told the others. They didn’t know who he was, but they knew that he had been born, and that the apocalypse could start again, bigger and better than before.

Some had dared to ask Michael about his vessel. He, surprisingly, did nothing to them. But he did nothing. He didn’t tell them anything, didn’t look their way or connect their grace. Nothing.

He was to busy focusing on his true vessel. He could feel him, even see his life a little bit if he tried. It was the most entertainment he’s had in a long time.

“Brother.” Raphael said at one point, and Michael didn’t know when they were and he ddn’t really care. He, too, could see what Michael saw, if Michael let him. The vessel was still but a baby, a slightly unhealthy one, and Raphael’s instincts told him to help. “I must go down there.”

“I know.” Michael murmured. “I trust that you’ll do what is right. His is such a pure soul.”

“A righteous one.” Raphael was smiling, something he didn’t often do. He’s been taking care of his older brother for centuries now, to make sure he didn’t wilt into nothing or fall from lack of faith. He is the healer, and even if he only had one patient, he would keep that patient going. And the baby, he had an aura that felt so much like Michael that Raphael was unsure if the soul wasn’t just a piece of Michael’s grace.

This was the first time Michael’s smiled since…

“Here.” Michael held out a hand. He had long since changed his body from female back to male, it just wasn’t working with him right. To much bust and not enough brawn. In his hand, a leather necklace formed. “Put this on my vessel.”

The necklace would stop any locator spells casted from heaven. Outside of heaven, it would do nothing, but Michael was very rusty on using his powers. He needed to do something, though. The other angels hadn’t stopped their search for his vessel, and they likely never would. They didn’t leave heaven to find him, though, so the necklace would work well enough. And it helped block the aura the baby was emitting, that precisely Michael aura. The vessel shouldn’t be doing that anyway, so the necklace was a quick fix.

Raphael nodded, taking the necklace and disappearing. Michael smiled, something more soft then the one before. Lucifer had left, so had Gabriel. They both may have left for different reasons, but he was the one who pushed them both into doing what they did. They had both looked so heartbroken, right before they were gone. It was Michael’s last memory of them.

He couldn’t fix the past, but he could maybe help the future.

So he sat. He sat and watched as Raphael came into the baby’s room. It was dark, but little Dean wasn’t sleeping yet. The healer picked the baby up like it was the most delicate flower. Dean just laughed and blew a raspberry at him.

Raphael chuckled. “Are you watching, Michael? He’s just like you.”

Michael couldn’t answer, but Raphael didn’t expect on. He watched as the healer fixed a few of the defects that the baby had and no one knew. He had some severe allergies, and one of his ear drums was completely messed up. The baby could live with it, but Raphael could feel an infection bubbling up, so instead of waiting, he just fixed the problem entirely. Complete hearing and no extreme allergies (he might’ve missed a cat one though). He destroyed the infection instead of just blocking it, by doing that.

Then he put the necklace on the child. His parents wouldn’t notice, wouldn’t take it off. The necklace glowed for a second, and both angels missed a sliver of something bright exit the necklace and enter the baby. Dean blinked, a new light in his eyes. The baby grabbed at the healer’s nose, gurgling softly before giggling, as if something was super funny.

Raphael didn’t think much of it, putting the baby to sleep and leaving silently.

He didn’t seem to remember, but Michael did. He remembered a time before creation, when they were all so very young. Michael had played got-your-nose with his younger brothers to pass the time.

He had actually gotten Raphael’s nose. He kept it until Father made him give it back.

Raphael didn’t remember, but Michael did.

And, apparently, so did the baby.

  
  
  


Dean never really found nerdy jokes amusing. It wasn’t his style. But he could definitely see now why people make time is just a social construct joke whenever their late, or whenever time doesn’t seem to work the way it should.

He doesn’t know how much time has passed since he was brought back from hell. He thinks it’s been at least a month, but he’s been so focused in studying and protecting seals that the days all seemed to merge together, and he couldn’t bring himself to care about what date held the present anymore.

Cas only showed up a select few times, and Dean would always jump at the possibilities of further educating the angel on the human world. As time passed, he seemed to start getting the hang of everything, and his progress was much faster than it had been at the beginning. When asked, Cas said that he was getting advice from one of his brothers, and Dean didn’t know wether to be happy or worried.

_ His _ brother would still disappear some nights, no doubt going back to his demon blood donor. He liked to act innocent, even though they both knew what he was doing in his spare time. Dean also knew, though, that trying to stop his brother would most likely only spark a fight between them. So he just stared at his brother when he came home after his Ruby time.

Their newest… erm… (where they problems or friends? Dean was still deciding-) nonhuman acquaintances were always around but never seen. Sammy came across the angel once at a bookshop, and Aziraphale did frequent there, but he was hardly ever home when Dean went to talk to him. Crowley liked to show up every now and then, hissing a temptiation like the fricken devil on his shoulder. He would hate it if the demon didn’t give him some of the only entertainment he got in a day. 

But that wasn’t the problem at the moment, because they were here. They were eating lunch at the nicest diner in town, the one Sammy and Dean always went to, and Sam jumped on the chance to ask all of the questions he’s been stockpiling since he last saw the angel.

Dean just ordered a pie and waited it out.

He was halfway through his second slice when he realized that Crowley had decided to finally stop staring at the angel and to start staring at him instead. “What?”

His nose twitched. “Something’s off about you.” The demon said.

Dean blinked, slowly putting down his fork before bringing his attention back. “Maybe it’s because, oh, I dunno, the hell I was subjected to for 40 years?”

“Ah, that’s nothing in the long of it.” Crowley waved it away. “I use to go down there for tea and biscuits when I felt like it, and the torture gets boring after a while. No, it’s something else.” He took his sunglasses off to look at him more closely, and Dean almost flinched when he saw the golden snake eyes. “It’s your soul.”

Dean arched an eyebrow. “What about it?”

Crowley tilted his head for a moment, before his face went into one of shock. “They never cleaned it!”

He had yelled that part out, and now Aziraphale was looking at him in concern. “Never cleaned what, dear?”

“Look at him!” Crowley gestured with flailing hands at Dean, and now Sam looked worried too. “The angels never cleaned his soul! It’s all tainted, doesn’t look good.”

Aziraphale took a closer look at him, before frowning. “Oh dear.” He murmured. “Maybe the angels that rescued him don’t know how to heal souls.” He nodded, as if that’s what he decided was true. “I heard they weren’t teaching younger angels how to heal grace or souls anymore.”

“That’s a load of bollocks.” Crowley exclaimed. “Not teaching angels to heal? I know how to heal!”

“Then why didn’t you heal me back in hell?” Dean interrupted, because this was his soul they were talking about and Crowley obviously knew about the taint on it before this conversation.

“I’m a demon, sweetheart.” He said that like it was supposed to be obvious. “I can’t heal souls, I can only taint them.”

Aziraphale had stopped listening, opting to stare at him instead. “Strange. It’s a film, right? It’s not actually on his soul.”

“I noticed that earlier, too.” Crowley agreed. “S’like a blanket.”

“Easy to remove.” Aziraphale held up a hand, holding it close to his head before stopping. He stared at Dean as if waiting to give him the ‘go ahead’.

Dean nodded. “Yeah, untaint my soul, please.”

Sam watched in apt wonder as Aziraphale places his fingers on Dean’s temple. Nothing happened. He removed his fingers before smiling. “It’s done.”

Dean didn’t really feel that much different, but he could tell that something that weighed on him had lifted. His head felt better, too, but besides that, nothing. “Uh, thanks?”

Crowley grunted, sniffing at the air. “You smell better, too. Less sulfur-y and ashy.”

“Okaaay then.” Sam murmured, and once he saw how uncomfortable Dean seemed, set about taking the attention back onto him. “We really do need to know more about the seal prophecy.”

“No you don’t.” Crowley said. “We told you, it’s taken care of.”

“How is it taken care of?” Dean asked, “because the summoning book we found to find you seems to think that you’re a part of that seal somehow.”

Aziraphale’s eyes gleamed with interest. “You mean that Agnes Nutter book?”

Crowley jumped in surprise. “Ugh, not her again.”

Aziraphale swatted at him. “Shh, dear, she was helpful before. We’d be dead without her.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like her.” Crowley crosses his arms.

“Yes, the Agnes Nutter book.” Dean said, barely keeping track of their conversations. “That prophecy was connected to your summoning page.”

“Look.” Sam started up again. “We know you're thousands of years old, we know that you're ancient and powerful and can handle yourselves, but we’re humans. We don’t know a dime of the stuff you know, and not knowing what you're getting yourself into is dangerous. Angels raised my brother up from hell, and we don’t know why. There’s two people out there that are true vessels to the prince of heaven and the devil, and we don’t know how to protect them. There’s a seal that if broken can start the apocalypse, and we could know how to protect it, but two people just won’t tell us.” He paused. “Having your partners fumble around in the dark is a bad move.”

Dean finished his pie with a smile. Crowley looked absolutely miffed, but Aziraphale looked troubled, frowning not at Sam’s speech, but at Sam’s doe eyes. Dean took a second before adding his own doe eyes, and the angel almost instantly crumbled. “Okay.”

“Ok-What?!” Crowley twisted inhumanly in his seat. “You're gonna Tell them? W-what? Just because of a little speech?”

The angel ignored his companion. “A long bit ago, Crowley came to me with a prophecy, the prophecy we’re talking about. It was just after we decided to make an Arrangement- to stay out of each other’s way and to stop discoperating, or killing, each other. We weren’t good friends at this time, but we were friends enough to agree to stop the prophecy in anyway possible.”

“How’d you stop it?”

Crowley took a moment to stare at his angel, before sighing dramatically. “It wasn’t hard for us to figure out who she was talking about, but she did make it hard for others. The writer of the prophecy was a Greek servant Aziraphale knew. She was connected to God in some way and sprouted off prophecies every now and then, she wrote this one the way she did to protect who the prophecy was about.”

“Back then.” Aziraphale said. “A gleam was the first light that hit the Mediterranean as the sun appeared, and a gloom was the darkness that showed when a thunderstorm hit. She hid who she was talking about behind a few layers- the gleam is the light and the gloom is the dark, most likely heaven and hell. It says of earth, which means it couldn’t be heaven and hell-“

“-But an angel and a demon.” Sam finished, eyes widening as he connected the dots. “And you said you’ve been here since the beginning. The gleam and gloom of earth is you two. If you two kill each other, the seal will break.”

“That’s why you’re not worried.” Dean had flagged down the waitress for another pie to go. “Since you love each other too much to kill one another.”

He found some type of pride in making the Serpent of Eden, the original sin, blush. It felt like a brotherly type of pride, for some reason, like he was an older brother teasing a younger. It was weird.

“Exactly.” Aziraphale seemed to be the opposite of bothered. “During the last apocalypse no one spoke of the seals, so we didn’t have to worry about that little secret coming out. Unfortunately, this apocalypse is focused on seals, so someone will figure it out eventually.”

“Wait.” Sam said. “The prophecy says to kill one another. Haven’t you guys already killed each other before?”

“Destroy, not kill.” Crowley explained. “We’ve skewered each other’s bodies multiple times, but to end a true demon or angel on earth, you’ve gotta get medieval.”

“There are a few blades with enough power to destroy us, but whereas if you’re possessing a body and get hit anywhere it’s a problem, if you have your own body you have to be hit straight in the grace.” Aziraphale continued. “There are blood rituals and other things that could kill us completely. Holy water for Crowley, satanic fire for me. We’d have to completely destroy each other to break the seal. We wouldn’t come back.”

As if by force, Sam suddenly remembered when they almost threw holy water on Crowley to get him to speak, not knowing that it would completely destroy him. He fucked up there.

Dean, on the other hand, had something else in mind. He was… angry, for some reason. Angry that those on his side or hell’s side could hurt his family, fallen or not. They were supposed to be angelic, but his side was breaking seals and killing people as they went. This isn’t what he wanted. He wanted the apocalypse to come naturally-

The waitress settled the plate of wrapped pie in front of him, and Sam paid. Something about the click of the plate snapped him out of it.

His head darted up, and he met Aziraphale’s eyes, hopeing to Fathe-God that he understood. The angel frowned, surprised and confused, before nodding slightly. In a second, his hand had darted over to Sam’s forehead, and he was gone, back at Bobby’s.

Crowley startled. “What was that about, angel?”

“Dean…” Aziraphale looked at the human with a new sort of wonder in his eyes. “Wanted to talk in private.”

“Without his brother?” Crowley looked incredulous. “Now I might not know much about the Winchester boys, but they do everything together.”

“Not this time.” Dean’s head felt light. He could feel memories that he knew weren’t his (or were they?) swimming around his head. But they were locked, to far for him to reach. He wanted to know what they were. “Can we-?”

“Of course.” The angel grabbed Crowley’s hand before touching Dean’s forehead with his other hand. The three -and the pie- all appeared back at Aziraphale’s. “Now, what’s startled you so?”

Dean didn’t realize it, but immediately as they got here he started pacing. “Ever since I got back from Hell, I’ve felt different.” He started, and he sounded like a person at therapy but at the moment he really didn’t care. 

“That’s normal.” Aziraphale reassured. “It’s hell, dear. No one comes out the way they came in.”

“Only demons.” Crowley added. “And that’s not all the time.”

“But it’s not regular mood swings.” Dean protested. “I’m getting feelings- feelings like I’m living another life.” He paused, before looking at the angel. “Feelings and memories. I look at you and I remember you, and I don’t know why ‘cause I know I’ve never seen you before!”

The two beings had stopped, staring at him with the same tilted head expression that Cas did. “What…” Aziraphale narrowed his eyes, not unkindly, but like he was trying to swat a fly with his lashes. “What memories do you have of me?”

“I don’t know.” Dean said, and he was really starting to run on high, but after everything that’s happened he’s never had anything like this. “I’ll remember something but then it’ll disappear and I just don’t-“ he trailed off, fingering the necklace around his neck. It had become a habit of his log ago, when he first started hunting.

Crowley took a cautious step forward. “Being in hell could cause that.” He started slowly. “You were a soul surrounded by other souls. You could have easily transferred memories back and forth by accident.”

Dean shook his head, voice hardening. “Aliastar made sure that didn’t happen.” He explained, almost coldly. “He always checked my handiwork, even after years had gone by.”

Crowley crosses his arms, and Dean could feel something harsh behind his glasses. “Yeah, right bastard isn’t he? I wouldn’t wish anyone a day under his knife, let alone years.”

Aziraphale touched his shoulder softly, as if patting him. Crowley didn’t look at him, keeping eye contact with Dean under the glasses. He put two and two together quickly. “How long?”

“Depends on which time.” Crowley shrugged. “Only a few days the first time, a few months the second. A thousand years the third, since I happened to drown on the titanic, and time passes differently down there.” He glanced at Aziraphale, who’s expression held concern and something angry underneath, before turning back to Dean. “They wanted no survivors, I wanted to keep my angel from being completely depressed. I don’t regret it.”

“Your side is truly awful sometimes.” The angel harrumphed. “Truly. How they invoke fear is abysmal.” He turned to Dean, as if Dean really wanted to hear any of this. He was already getting much more upset then he thought he would be. But Aziraphale’s eyes… they held such a righteous fire in them… they couldn’t be ignored. “That no good demon isn't strong enough for any of the fallen, so they chained them down! Why would a demon fight for a side that punishes them like that if they fail?!”

Crowley leaned in close. “Re-education, dear.”

Aziraphale stopped, that fire in his eyes dying and going back to normal. He blushed. “Oh, right.”

“Anyway.” Dean finally cut in, because frankly they were just speaking of things he already knew and didn’t care to much about at that instance of time. Not to mention that Sammy was probably going out of his mind in worry. “You two are the only source of angelic or demonic knowledge on what this could be.” Because Cas was who knows where anymore, Dean  _ knew _ he wasn’t ready to see the pizza man in action, damnit.

Crowley leaned back, sitting down and lounging on a couch as he pursed his lips. Aziraphale quickly took the spot next to him. “I don’t know.” He admitted. “Your different from the other soul down there, you know. Your soul practically glowed when I first met you down there, even behind all of that dirt. Maybe you have some repressed memories or something.”

Dean arched an eyebrow at the truly pathetic attempt at help. Repressed memories? He might believe that if his so called repressed memories didn’t show him playing with five year olds. Who had wings.  _ Wings. _

“I have the memories of an angel.” Dean said slowly, as if just realizing it himself. “Those are my memories.” He looked up, surprised clear in his wide eyes and opened mouth. “ _ How?! _ Did an angel jump my bones or something?”

“No.” Aziraphale reassured quickly. “There’s no way that-“

Whatever he said was cut off at the sound of wings. Dean spun around to see Cas behind him, stoically taking in the situation before he stopped to stare at Aziraphale and Crowley.

Who were very close together on the couch.

And looking very much cozy together.

An angel and demon. Cozy. In front of another angel.

“Oh, Dear.” Aziraphale murmured, more like breathed out. His arm came out to rest protectively in front of Crowley, and the demon himself was frozen in either anticipation or fear. “Hi Castiel.”


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to read the comments of the last chapter after I upload the new one so that I don’t overthink my new chapter with the theories and ideas you all have lol.

“Sam was in a frantic search to find you.” Cas’ eyes didn’t leave Aziraphale or Crowley, but he spoke to Dean. “He called me in his haste.”

“How could you find me?” Was Dean’s first question, because honestly, that was _not_ okay.

“Oh, that’s easy.” Aziraphale piped in. “We just have to reach out our grace-“

“Angel.” Crowley didn’t snap, per se (because Dean very well doubted he could) but he spoke very quickly and slightly sharply. “Not the time.”

Sadly, Cas’ attention was back on him. “You are lucky I haven’t smited you yet, demon.” He said, before looking at Aziraphale. “Explain yourself, Aziraphale. Have you fallen to a demon’s temptations?”

Dean hid his snort.

“Oh, my dear boy.” Aziraphale tutted as he stood up, making a grand show with his hands before clasping them together. “He need not tempt me, and as you can see, I haven’t fallen.” He took a wary step forward. “I’m not at risk for falling, either. It is what we talked about earlier.”

“Earlier?” Dean did want the attention off his newly acquired partners, but he was also curious. “How do you guys know each other?”

Cas still didn’t look at him as he spoke, as if he couldn’t bring himself to. “He was my old mentor, for a short time.” Cas started. “They say he could have been the best, since he trained under both Michael and Raphael.” 

Aziraphale waved his hands about, blushing. “Now now, it’s nothing to speak about. Castiel here just had some questions about faith that I gladly answered for him.”

Dean looked over at his guardian angel, worried. Is that why he hasn’t shown up lately? Was it because of Dean, what Dean’s been showing him? “Cas, you okay?”

“I am fine, Dean.” Cas’ voice was slightly pinched. “I’ve just been exploring the world that you call home.”

That’s when Crowley stepped forward (well more like leaned forward) into the conversation. “Did more than just exploring, eh?” Crowley asked with a sly grin. “I smell a demon on you, you know. And not a smited one.”

Whatever he was talking about must’ve rubbed Cas the wrong way. “He must go.” Cas replied. “I cannot have him try to tempt the righteous man.”

“Oooh!” Crowley jerked up, almost losing his sunglasses in the process. “Righteous man, oh that makes  _ so much more _ sense!” He clapped his hands together, leaning back. “You angels all worry so much. I couldn’t tempt him anymore then he is already. Did you  _ see _ how many pies he had earlier?”

“Castiel.” Aziraphale interrupted politely. He seemed to try to go to a different subject. “You must have noticed that there is something… odd, about Dean, haven’t you?”

Dean wanted to speak on his behalf, since there was  _ nothing _ wrong with him, but then Cas replied. “He is the righteous man, he is not like the others.” He took a moment before continuing. “And I do not know how you didn’t fall, brother, but heaven will not be pleased to hear this.”

“Then don’t tell them.” Dean finally cut in, ignoring Cas’ incredulous look. “Why do they have to know? It’s none of their business, is it?”

“Heaven should be informed of everything at all times.” Cas’ reply was monotone, but it held a tinge of soft regret to it, like he didn’t want to.

Dean pounced on it. “Look, I don’t know about the other angels, but as of what I’ve seen so far, Aziraphale is as much of an angel as the rest of you sons of bitches are. Aren’t angels all about forgiving?”

Aziraphale had a look to him like he was about to correct Dean, but Crowley thankfully stopped him. Cas narrowed his eyes. “Yes, But-“

“Exactly.” Dean didn’t let him finish. “And guess what, he forgave a  _ demon. _ I dunno anyone more angelic than that.” He paused, his brain stalling. “Don’t Tell me every demon you ever met was all bad.”

Now Dean was preaching stuff he didn’t believe himself. Before Crowley, he didn’t like any supernatural creature, they always betrayed him at some point. Demons were the worst of it, as well. Crossroads Crowley might’ve saved Sammy, but he doomed him in the process. Of course, he’d take that anyway over Sammy staying there, but-

He is getting off track.

Cas, though, seemed to have realized something. Maybe he had met a demon that didn’t seem to bad at some point. Dean made a point to have Cas show him whatever demon that was later. “I… I guess you could be correct.”

He felt his shoulders drop in relief, but he didn’t give up just yet. It’d be better to end on another conversation all together. “Good. Now, where have you been, it’s been weeks.” 

“15 days.” Cas replied. “And I’ve been looking for a… backup. An option for if Lucifer is freed from his cage.”

Aziraphale and Crowley shared a look, as if slightly confused, before Aziraphale shook it off and stepped forward. “What kind of option?”

“I wanted to find a weapon that could slay the devil.” Cas wrinkled his nose, something Dean noticed he did much more often then he use to. “But alas, I could not find anything.”

“There must be something.” Dean couldn’t think of anything, but he knew  _ something _ could kill the devil. He doesn’t know how he knew, but he does.

Crowley was looking at him, but Dean didn’t notice. No one seemed to notice but Crowley. For a second, he thought he had frozen time again, but no, everything was moving correctly. He was having one of those… what do humans call it? Ugh, well, anyway, it’s one of those moments that time just seemed to slow down.

Maybe it had something to do with whatever was hanging off of Dean’s neck. He’s never really noticed it before, but now that he’s seen it it’s hard to look away. Something about it was… special.

Or, at least, it used to be.

“Crowley, dear?” His angel called his name, snapping him out of whatever trance he entered. 

“Hmm?” He wasn’t paying too much attention, getting one more glance at the human’s necklace before Castiel flew them away. They were alone again.

“Are you feeling okay?” The angel fussed, reaching up for his forehead worriedly. “You went all quiet there, I thought my brother did something.”

He use to be their brother, if he thought about it. They use to be brothers, not in the blood sense but the angel sense. He sighed, head still stuck on that necklace. “Nothing angel, m’fine.”

  
  


It took three more days, four packs of beer, and one stern yelling at Ruby before Sam had an epiphany.

“We’re going at this all wrong.” He announced one afternoon.

They had gone out of town to find a hunt, since they were both becoming bored out of their minds. A lone vampire going out of _their_ mind in a town not too far away was a quick one that let them stretch their legs enough not to feel caged in anymore. Dean, though, had acted weird when it came to actually killing the creature, something Sam easily picked up on but didn’t speak of.

He didn’t know how to bring it up.

Anyway, they were going to head back later that night, but then Sam had gone out to walk around town and when he came back his head was flowing with a particular idea.

“Going about what all wrong?” Dean asked, rolling over in his bed. He wasn’t sleeping, Sam knew, but it looked like he was trying to and failing.

“Look, we’ve been having a lot of dead ends lately.” Sam started, locking the door behind him and getting comfortable. “And we’ve broke through them all by finding someone who actually knows what we’re talking about.”

“Ok.” Dean was following, albeit sounding slightly annoyed. “And..?”

“Instead of looking for a weapon to kill an immortal, why not look for an immortal and ask them instead?”

To be honest, the idea sounded a lot better in his head.

Dean’s face wasn’t helping. “Ok. Yeah, sure, let’s just go ask some immortal. Hey, immortal, how do we kill you?”

Sam sighed. “Look, do you have any better idea?”

He had him there. Dean looked down in thought before looking back up. “Cas is immortal. So is Aziraphale and Crowley. They don’t know.”

“There are different types of immortality.” Sam said. “Immortal as in indestructible, or as in you live forever or both. Lucifer’s an Archangel, and it seems like they’re both.”

Dean took a moment before he blinked, clearly confused. “Then how is Michael supposed to kill him?”

“That’s the apocalypse.” Sam explained. “That’s, like, one of the ways to kill him, but it’s the most dangerous way. We need a less dangerous option. We need to find another immortal.”

“Some other entity that can’t die?” Dean asks. “There’s not many of those, and none that would help  _ us. _ I can’t think of any.”

“Well there has to be some.” Sam replied. “Most immortals can only be killed by certain objects, right? So if we can’t find an immortal, maybe we can find the certain object that can kill Lucifer.”

Dean, though, was pondering. He wasn’t pondering hard enough to gain a capital P, but he was pondering pretty hard. “What about the trickster?” Dean asked after a moment. “He’s still alive, right? Killed him with a stake but it didn’t actually do anything to him. He’s immortal as far as we know.”

And super dangerous. Sam still has nightmares about the day that happened hundreds of times, about all those times Dean died. He hoped to never see that bastard again.

But Dean was right, and so far that was their best bet. “Alright, so we need to find a way to summon him.”

“D’you think we’ll find him in the Agnes Nutter summoning book?” It was a throwaway question, but it was the only thing they could think of at the moment.

“We left it back at Bobby’s.”

“Then let’s get a move on.”

  
  


It had been a long while since Michael’s checked in on his vessel. He watched the child grow up, watched him be a better brother than Michael could ever be, and watched the pain and heartache that happened at such a young age in his life.

He tried to sooth the child as much as possible as he could from heaven. Unlike Raphael, his grace was almost like a cornerstone of heaven, if he left,  _ everyone _ could feel it, be it angel or true demon. Everyone would flock to his location, most likely suffocating his vessel in the meantime.

He couldn’t leave without causing more damage, but he couldn’t stay without hurting those that meant the most to him. His brothers were all gone, besides the healer. He hated that he was the one who pushed them away. And he couldn’t even look for them, Gabriel completely hidden and Lucifer locked away.

He felt his vessel make a deal with the demon, he felt it all the way into the innermost part of his grace. There was nothing he could do against the deal, but he did make sure that his vessel wouldn’t be forever tainted by that experience. He would’ve saved him, too, would’ve risked it all if the other angels hadn’t already planned on rescuing him. It would’ve been the first time in father knows how long since he left the Archangel’s stronghold type house, but he was willing to.

He could help his vessel in the way he couldn’t help his brothers. He wouldn’t, didn’t want to make the same mistake.

So he felt him make the deal, and he felt him die. He knew Raphael did, too, and probably Gabriel and Lucifer as well. They would know when a true vessel died. But it didn’t matter, because Michael also felt the moment when his vessel was suddenly back.

He also felt the moment that he was completely cleaned from taint.

He watched in, then. He watched who was involved, his brother, the angel, and the demon. The latter two… they were so pleasant with each other. It was against the rules, yet they didn’t care. They didn’t care that biological nature told them no, they didn’t care that  _ father _ probably wouldn’t approve, they did so because they wanted to. It was free will. Angels had it, they just had to find it.

If Michael had found his sooner, none of this would have happened. He’d still have Lucifer and Gabriel at his side, and they’d all still be together and happy.

He’s ruined it all.

  
  


It was funny how life worked out.

Whereas Sam was having trouble understanding, it all seemed pretty linear to Dean.

They had arrived back at Bobby’s, and had gotten Cas to get a hold of their resident seal stoppers. Once found and brought everything over, they explained their idea and got mix replies. Quite literally mixed since Aziraphale was thinking it through, Cas didn’t like it and Crowley hadn’t even spoken on it.

Then he asked for a picture of the trickster and things got hectic.

Cas wouldn’t allow Crowley close enough to grab a mental picture from Dean so Aziraphale did it then transferred it to Crowley, who then immediately started some type of hackle laugh and wouldn’t tell them why.

Why showed up minutes later complaining because apparently Crowley had such loud thoughts that they reached him in Vegas.

“Not my fault.” Crowley wheezed. “You should tell them.”

The trickster spun around to look at everyone in the room. His eyes caught on Sam and Dean for a moment, narrowing as if irritatingly confused, before continuing. “Why? It’s more fun this way.”

“Tell us what?” Sammy asked, and it’s not good when Sammy gets annoyed because then he starts flailing his hands and as we know he is very large and he’s most likely to hit something/one.

Crowley raised his hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t tell them.”

“I know.” The trickster waved it away. “And shut it, Samsquash, I’m thinking.”

“Oh, that’s not good.” Crowley grinned.

“Har Har Har, when did you get a comedic streak?” 

“I’ve had it since the apple.” Crowley leaned back with a smug look. “What, don’t like it?” He teased.

Dean glanced at Aziraphale, and the poor angel looked even more confused than they did.

The trickster ignored him before turning to the boys. “Alright, why did this bozo call me here?”

“Wait.” Dean started. “First of all, how do you know each other?”

The demon grimaced. “Long story-” 

“Spain.” The trickster’s grin had gone quiet smug. “Someone was putting fake sharks in the water to scare the locals. Didn’t notice the real one up behind him.”

“It wasn’t real, it was you!” Crowley snapped, and it seemed the trickster hit a sore spot. “Stop trying to bloody deny it.”

He tilted his head. “Went for the British accent, I see.” He once again ignored Crowley. “I’m guessing London. How’s that treating ya?”

Crowley crosses his arms, apparently done as well. “Tell them or I will.”

“Hey.” The trickster’s stance seemed to change slightly, and the room didn’t feel so carefree anymore. “Don’t make calls you can’t accomplish.”

Crowley frowned minutely. “Don’t-“

“Alright, I’m done.” Dean finally stepped forward, pointing at the trickster. “Either tell us who you are or get out of this house.”

“Oh, so scary.” The trickster mocked. “I’m positively shaking in my boots right now. Maybe I’ll even wet my pants.”

“I wouldn’t antagonize them if I were you.” Crowley’s smile turned snakelike. “Gabriel.”

The effect on the room was instant.

The trickster, Gabriel himself seemed more annoyed then upset, but both angels had turned to stare at him in disbelief, as if someone had just pulled the rug out from under them.

“Ga-Gabriel.” Aziraphale stuttered. “But, what happened to your old-“

“That wasn’t him, angel.” Crowley said quietly. “It was another one of your brood, but it wasn’t Gabe. It never was.”

As said angel tried to get that through his head, both of the humans, as said before, were having different reactions.

Dean thought that Sam had finally broken for a moment there.

Dean, on the other hand, might’ve understood better because he  _ didn’t _ understand religion. “Wait, so, as in The Archangel Gabriel?”

“Ding ding ding, he guessed it right, give the guy a prize.” Gabriel muttered, glaring at the demon. “I should smite you for that.”

“You’ve had thousands of years to do that.” Crowley replied. “I don’t think you're going to do it now.”

Gabe gestured to Cas. “You do realize that this one still listens to everything heaven says, right? He’s going to report back to heaven and then Michael’s going to come down with a flaming sword on my ass.”

Cas, out of everyone, had the least amount of expression on his face, only tilting his head before answering. “Michael placed himself in confinement right after you left, Gabriel. Only Raphael has been to see him in that time, he’s been there ever since.”

That got a visual reaction from him. “What?” The Archangel asked. “Michael? Mikey? No, he’s the type to bask in attention, he wouldn’t lock himself up for thousands of years.”

Aziraphale hadn’t known about the angel fakery with Gabriel, but he had known about the fakery with Michael. It was why he believed Crowley so quickly (and other reasons). “He blames himself for everything.” He said quietly.

Gabe is face fell for only a moment before it turned stoic again. “Well, it suits him. He should’ve stopped fighting from the get go.”

Aziraphale frowned, because of course Gabriel didn’t know. Aziraphale was one of the last angels to see either Raphael or Michael before they both vanished, being an apprentice of both of them. He’s never seen something despair as much as Michael had in that moment.

Gabe snapped his fingers, apparently remembering why he was there. “Oh, yeah, you guys need more help. Killing the devil and all of that, huh? Well, yeah, not happening.”

“What?” Sam has finally rebooted and was back in action. “Why not?”

“Um, because I don’t want too?” Gabriel clicked his fingers and was suddenly holding a bag of popcorn. He plopped down onto the couch and ate. “I’m not picking a side. I didn’t before, I won’t now.”

“Even if their fight destroys most of humanity?” Dean pressed, hoping he didn’t sound desperate because he didn’t do desperate.

Gabe’s eyes flashed, hardening. “I. Won’t. Choose. A. Side.” He almost spat. “I won’t help you kill my brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We love Gabriel.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it’s been a bit. Mostly because I had an idea for a sequel and even though I’m nowhere close to being done it just got stuck in my head and I had to write something for it. Gotta write what ya gotta write.

The thing was, Dean understood, to a point. No one could ever force him to kill his brother, he’d never do it. Now, his brother wasn’t the devil, which made it very different.

But he also understood that that’s just how he felt about it, and he knew he was hypocritical. He wouldn’t kill the devil if he was Gabe and Sam was Lucifer, either.

He also, strangely, didn’t want to kill the devil, but that’s another thing altogether. Something he didn’t want to think about it. Especially because Crowley was still staring at him from time to time.

So, instead of trying to force Gabe into telling them something he never would he turned on Crowley. “Why do you keep on staring at me?”

Crowley startled, surprised that he was caught staring. Was he use to not being caught staring? He stares at Aziraphale all the time but the angel never berates him, so maybe. “It’s your necklace.” He admits. “Something weird about it.”

Everyone now focused on the thing around his neck, as if just now realizing it was there. Dean looked down at it. “What, this thing? I’ve had it from the beginning. I thought mom gave it to me but she never talked about it.”

“You… don’t remember where you got it from?” Cas said slowly, and the angels in the room stared at it strangely.

“No.” Dean snorted. “I was a baby when I got it.”

“Dean.” Gabe leaned forward from his seat, popcorn forgotten. Something familiar sat in his eyes. “That necklace… that’s been touched by grace. A  _ lot _ of grace.”

“Okay.” Dean said slowly. “Well, i’ve been around a lot of angels lately, and Cas did get me from hell-“

“It’s not mine, Dean.” Cas interrupted. “It’s much to powerful to be mine-“

“It’s Michael’s.” Gabe almost blurted out, drawing attention back to him. He leaned back, understanding in his eyes. “We all thought you were dead, but, oh it makes so much sense…”

“Gabriel.” Aziraphale regarded him like a touchy nuclear bomb, something that could go off any minute. “Care to explain?”

“Yeah.” Dean took off the necklace -something he’s never done before- and looked at it. “Why’d the Archangel Michael give me a necklace full of his own grace?”

“It looks like it was a protection spell.” Aziraphale said, taking a closer look at the necklace without touching it. “From what, I don’t know.”

“Probably from other angels.” Gabe said, waving a hand to refill his popcorn. “If they knew who Dean was, they would track him down and never leave him alone. Michael did it to hide him from other angels.”

“And who is Dean?” Crowley asked.

That’s when Sam jumped up, eyes wide in realization. “He’s a true vessel.” He breathed. “Dean’s Michael’s true vessel, isn’t he?”

Dean cursed in his head, because, of course, that’s his luck.

Gabe didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. Instead, he looked closer at Dean. “There’s no more grace in that necklace, it’s all gone. The thing is, Michael wasn’t good enough at spells to let them not wear down after years. The question is, where’d his grace go?”

It was silent for a moment before Aziraphale gasped.

“You-“ Aziraphale looked amazed. “Your soul, it’s not just a normal righteous soul. There’s grace mixed up in it, Micheal’s grace. The necklace has been there for so long that it merged with your soul. You truly are his vessel.”

It was quiet as everyone stared at him in some type of awe. After a minute of silence, Gabe stood up. “You don’t want to kill him, do you?” He asked softly. 

“I-“

“Take a second a truly think, Dean.” Gabriel said, and it had to be serious because the nickname was gone. “Do you really want to kill Lucifer?”

Dean took a second, but then his eyes locked with Sammy. Sammy looked certain, like he knew what Dean’s answer would be. He hung his head when he knew it was different. “No, I don’t.”

He couldn’t look at his brother’s face.

Gabe nodded, as if he knew that was the answer. “But you still fought.” He said softly, almost too quiet to hear. Then, louder, he spoke. “I won’t help you kill him, but I can help you lock him back up, if he gets out.”

  
  


So there was a thing called the four horsemen. Dean’s heard of them.

Had no clue that they were real, though.

According to Crowley and Aziraphale, though, they were defeated by eleven year olds before, so they shouldn’t be so hard to deal with.

“Remember.” Aziraphale added. “They had Adam, the actual Antichrist, on their side. The horsemen couldn’t hurt them even if they really tried. We, unfortunately, don’t have him to protect us.”

Well, nevermind.

“It’ll be difficult to locate them, even for someone of my prowess.” Gabe boasted as he told the bad news. He then looked at Aziraphale. “And we don’t have a mailman to help us, here. But while we find them, we can get started on another spell.”

“What spell?” Aziraphale, the only other one of them that actually studies spells asked.

“Now that we know who’s body Michael’s going to jump, we might be able to use Dean to find dear old Luci’s vessel.” Gabe explained.

Aziraphale arched an eyebrow. “And how do you propose that?”

Gabe is eye’s twinkled for a moment. “Little known fact among the lesser angels, but an Archangel can feel when another archangel’s true vessel is born or when they die. We felt when Dean died, but we didn’t know that it was Michael’s vessel.” He neglected to tell them that he felt someone else’s true vessel die at some point a few years ago. He think’s it could be Uriel’s, who wasn’t an Archangel but because many believed he was sometimes gets mixed into the Archangel stuff. “And since I’m here, and Dean’s here, we should be able to use my grace, Dean’s blood  _ and _ Michael’s grace to locate Luci’s vessel.”

Aziraphale didn’t look impressed. “I never heard of a spell to locate a true vessel before. Anyone who tries usaully catches themselves on fire. Are you sure?”

Gabe looked at the younger angel, frowning. Yes, he knew who he was, since he was always around in the very beginning. They hadn’t talked much, but Gabe had liked him when he was a fledgling, it was kind of hard not to. And he wasn’t as much of a stick in the mud as everyone else.

He heard of what happened in Heaven, with the imposters. He let it happen, because he truly didn’t care, but apparently imposter Gabriel and Michael didn’t either remember or know of Aziraphale’s history enough to treat him correctly. He might not care about heaven, but he cares about his brothers, and imposter Gabriel had a  _ really _ bad time after he was re-educated for what he did. Mikey and Raph weren’t going to do anything, so he did.

“Trust me.” It was a throwaway comment, but he meant it. “It’s possible, it’s just hard to do. You need the grace of at least two close brothers of the angel, and then the blood of anothe true vessel, which we have.” He shrugged. “There’s a few other ingredients, which I can get as you all go find a horseman. I suggest Penicillence first, since he’s retired and more then happy to stay that way.”

Dean blinked. A retired… horseman. “Where do we find him?”

“Probably through Pollution.” Crowley said. “They’re on a buddy-buddy basis, they keep contact.”

It was then that Cas came out of the silent trance he was in. “We might have a problem.”

“What?”

“I’ve been listening to the angel network for awhile now, and I asked if they knew who Michael’s or Lucifer’s true vessel was.” Cas looked at Dean. “They don’t, but the demons know.”

“Oh come on!”

Sam was in the same mindspace. They were just learning this themselves. The demons weren’t… attacking them, so maybe they didn’t care much since it was Michael and not Lucifer.

(Sadly, this was not the case.)

“I wish our resident demon told us this stuff.” Dean turned on Crowley, who held his hands up.

“Hey, the resident demon is wanted in hell for stopping an apocalypse and killing other demons.” Crowley protested. “Not to mention the fact that they don’t like the company I keep-“

“-I can’t see why.” Gabe said sarcastically.

“Oh shut it.” Crowley snapped. “So, I’m sorry for not knowing,  _ but _ they don’t tell me  _ anything _ anymore. I can’t step a foot in hell without being immediately thrown on a rack.”

Dean arched an eyebrow. “Then why were you in hell a few months ago?”

Aziraphale turned on his partner, lips pursed. “Yes, you never did tell me what happened.”

“I dunno.” The demon said truthfully. “One moment I was on the way to our lunch and the next I was discoperated in hell. It was bloody hard to sneak through there without being caught.”

“We’re off topic.” Sam sighed.

“Sammy’s right.” Gabe grinned, ignoring the glare both Winchesters sent his way. “I’m going back to Vegas. I’ll be back in a few days with the spell ready. One of you better put a ring on it before I get back, because I am  _ not _ doing all of the heavy lifting here.”

He waved his fingers and disappeared.

Only to reappear moments later. “Oh yes, and you two.” He put a hand on Cas and Aziraphale. “Angel talk. Now.”

All three of them disappeared.

Crowley frowned. “He took my ride.” Turning, he looked at the two brothers, ending with Dean. He sighed. “Look, I don’t really remember much about Michael, before I fell, but he does remind me of you. Talk to Zira later, or even Gabriel, about it. It’d be good to know as much as possible about him. You never know.” He shrugged. “Maybe he’ll be on our side.”

Sam snorted, still in the most-angels-are-great-big-bags-of-dicks mindset, but Dean nodded, hopeful. Sure, he  _ should _ feel violated. An angel put his grace in him, he had every right to be pissed. But because he had that grace, and because he had those bits of memory, he knows why he did it, and it was all for a good reason. The angel wanted his vessel to live a normal life, without the constant oversight of angels. His necklace protected him, just with a side effect no one knew about.

He needs to think of it the right way. It’d be like being double jointed without knowing. He still is who he is, and adding that on doesn’t change him, because he’s had that for his entire life, he just never knew. The grace has been with him his whole life, and it was put there by someone who was just trying to protect him, it seems. 

He turned to Sam once Crowley left. “You know what this means?”

“That we’re screwed?”

“No.” Dean smirked. “S’means im angelic. Holy.”

Sam groaned. “I think angels can hold their beer better then you can.”

“Shut up.”

“Jerk.”

“Bitch.”

Fun times, all around.

  
  
  


They didn’t last long.

The only way they could really find Pollution is to wait for a chemical out break or oil spill and run towards it, but apparently Cas had a better idea. Instead, they did a very human thing (Dean’s getting to him, apparently) and just looked online for patterns. There had been strange happenings going on a trail from Russia all the way down to Italy, ending with some mutated fish in Rome. Cas flew them over real quick after getting a look from themselves, and together they bullied the information out of Pollution.

Well, it was more of them trying not to squirm as they got consistently dirtier and Cas becoming done with the whole thing and getting the location himself.

When asked about his new intimidation techniques, he referred them to a demonic friend who wasn’t Crowley but he still wouldn’t tell them who.

Dean didn’t know wether to be grateful or pissed.

While trying to figure that out, he decides that it’s high time for him to get off his ass and go to one of the many angels now inhabiting his life for some good ole fashion I-have-Someone-stuck-in-my-head therapy. He spent a while just telling the angel what he knew from memories, but Aziraphale was attentive the whole time.

He sighed once Dean was done. “How about we go on a nice walk, shall we?”

They ended up at some lake, leaning over a small wooden bridge and watching the fish and turtles swim by. It was silent the walk there, but then Aziraphale finally spoke. “What do you know of angels?”

“What, besides the fact that most of them are dicks?” Dean asked. “Not much.”

Aziraphale winced, but hid it well. “Yes, many of them are, um, unsavory characters, but you must know their history before you can correctly judge them. My theory for Why heaven in the way it is is not because of the lower angels, or the Archangels. Not even God. I believe it’s the angels right underneath the Archangels who are causing a ruckus. Do you know anything about the latest... scandal in heaven?”

“I don’t have angel newspaper.” Dean said, not unkindly but not unDeanly either. “So, no.”

“Well, to know the whole story, we have to go to the beginning. So, you know that God ordered Michael to cast Lucifer from heaven, and he did. What many nowadays don’t know is that, unlike humans, angels aren’t created with free will, they must find it. Michael, at the time, had no free will, and did what he was told only because he could do no other.”

Dean Frowned severely, so severely that it deserved a capital F. “God forced Michael to fight his own brother? What kind of father does that to their kids?”

“I’m not going to answer that.” Aziraphale wisely said. “Anywho, after Lucifer was casted out, Michael gain free will and become overrunned with sorrow. After Gabriel left, he invented and got basically severe depression, and locked himself up in the archangel’s house in the middle of heaven. He’s been there ever since, with Raphael, the healer, looking over him.”

That was awful, but it didn’t explain much. If Dean tried, he could feel some very strong sad memories coming from what he now knew was the grace inside him. He could understand, to a point. “What does this have to do with the scandal?”

“Well, you see, since angels didn’t have free will, and with no Archangels to guide them, chaos broke out over heaven. After a while of anarchy. A group of angels discovered free will and took the situation into their own hands. See, they were some of the highest angels you could be without being an Archangel. The two most powerful angels disguised themselves as Gabriel and Michael, and effectively took over heaven for around 6 thousand years.

“A while ago, when the first apocalypse was stopped, the fake Michael and Gabriel were found out. Chaos threatened to break out again, but the higher ups pretended to be in contact with Michael to make sure that the lesser angels didn’t rebel. Soon enough, these angels were able to figure out that Michael’s vessel had been born, and they planned to use that to not only start the apocalypse, but to keep the younger angels in line and to finally drag Michael out from his makeshift prison.”

“But Michael had given me the necklace.” Dean held it tightly. “Which stopped them from finding me.”

“With a side effect, but yes, it did.” Aziraphale smiles. “I told you all of this so that you could hopefully understand the angels we’ll be dealing with better. None of these angels have free will. They’re not like me or Gabriel or Crowley. They’re not even like Castiel, who is still gaining his free will. I made sure that he would be able to find it when I mentored him all those years ago, but the other angels didn’t have mentors like me. Everything that’s happening with the seals is not the lesser angels or the Archangels fault, it’s the higher angels and demons and fallen angels doing this.”

“I… had a feeling.” Dean shook his head. “Whenever I look at Cas or any other angel besides Zach or Uriel, I get this sense of pity.”

Aziraphale nodded. “That’s Michael’s grace. I hope you understand that we may call it Michael’s, but it’s not anymore. You’ve had it to long for it to be anyone but yours.”

“So you're saying I’m part angel or something?” Dean asked.

Aziraphale shook his head. “Oh goodness no! That’s a nephilim, and you are not one of those. You are a true vessel, Dean Winchester, that’s all.”

Dean sighed, looking down into the water. A turtle bobbed in the light. “What’s Michael like? I heard he’s the kind of guy you don’t want to meet in a dark alley.”

Aziraphale chuckled. “He’s actually a big softy, but most of the Archangels are, if you get to know them. He isn’t one you want to fight, no, but he’s more then that. He was designed to command all of heaven for if or when God went away, and he did a good job of it before Lucifer rebelled. His favorite pastime, though, was playing with the baby angels, or fledglings, as we call them. He was the one fledglings went to whenever they skipped out on learning and wanted to go play, basically. He raised Gabriel and Raphael almost entirely by himself, and mentored the majority of angels out of the four Archangels, because he wanted to make sure that all angels could protect themselves.”

Dean scoffed slightly. “You make him sound all sunshine and rainbows.”

“Oh, he most definitely wasn’t.” Aziraphale scortled. “He was quick to temper, but he tried to do what he thought best and protected as many fledglings as possible when the rebellion first started out. After the fall, many of the angels that Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel mentored has died, either falling or fighting. Michael didn’t lock himself up just for Lucifer, but for them too. He feels like he does more harm than good.”

Dean grunted. “He needs to get off his ass and fix what he started, instead of letting others do it for him.”

Something inside of him tightened at his words.

“You should tell him.” Aziraphale suggested. “Archangels can always see and know where their vessels are, as long as they’re on earth or heaven. If he’s watching, he’ll hear. Or you can pray, that works too.”

Dean, though, was appalled. “He can watch me?! He’s been watching me? He knows when I shit and stuff?”

“Probably not.” Aziraphale shook his head. “Most angels don’t watch their vessel or their ward 24-7.”

Dean knew that was a little tease at Cas, and let it go with a small smile. “Hope not. He’d be seeing some unholy things if he watched me.”

“Please.” Aziraphale snorted. “Whatever you’re thinking, stop. Humans always have the worst idea of what we find unholy and sinful. Yes, lust is bad, but if anything, we’d be looking at your gluttony and greed more often. Crowley was right, you have a pie addiction.”

Dean patted his stomach. “And that’ll never change.” 

There was a bit of comfortable silence before Dean spoke up again. “Can angels lose their free will?”

Aziraphale hummed, pondering the question. “I don’t know, but I guess so. You can lose anything you gain.”

Dean nodded. “What if someone takes your free will and has you kill Crowley?”

The breeze stopped. The birds stopped chirping, the leaves stop rustling. Even the fish had frozen. It was like the world was holding its breath.

Aziraphale sighed shakily and rested his hands against the wooden rail of the bridge. He looked like someone had just confirmed one of his fears. “I would have to hope someone stopped me. The point about the seal is that Crowley has to kill me and be killed by me, and vise versa. I can’t kill him then myself and break the seal. What I imagine happing would be us ending each other at the same time, and the power released by that would break up the seal and pave a road for the hound to come up upon. So, even controlled, the seal should be safe.”

The angel’s voice cracked, and Dean left it alone.

It was silent as Aziraphale settled himself.

And then...

“Did you know that I was in a show once?” Aziraphale brightened up, looking at him with a wide smile, silence gone. “I only voice acted, but it was great fun.”

Dean smiled, before frowning, looking around. Something felt off. “Aziraphale…”

“-I didn’t have many lines and it was only for one episode, but dear, it was so much fun-“

“Aziraphale…”

“-You know I went like ‘fear me, I’ve killed hundreds of timelords’ and the star of the show said -and quite well if you ask me- ‘fear me, I’ve killed them all’ and then I was defeated-“

“Aziraphale…”

“-But Crowley always finds it so funny that I was casted as the villain, since I am an angel. He wished that it was him instead of the star but sadly his time had passed but nevermind that-“

“Aziraphale!”

“Oh, what?” Aziraphale looked at the flushed human besides him. “Oh good lord, are you feeling alright, dear? You look like you're burning up.”

He put a hand up to Dean’s forehead, which he swatted away. “I think there’s someone here, watching us.”

Aziraphale narrowed his eyes. “What do you mea-“

He didn’t get to finish, as there was a loud clump, and suddenly an angel was falling bonelessly to the ground. Dean looked up with a growl to see a few demons on one of his sides, one holding a metal bat. “Night night angel!”

“What the hell-“ he didn’t get to finish, because apparently there were some demons behind him to, judging by the fact that his head hurt and his body just wasn’t holding itself up like it use to.

He blacked out.


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not a fan of the fact that this has over 600 kudos. It worries me for several different reasons.  
> But, I mean, Crowley and Aziraphale deserve more love than they get so I’m Not complaining.
> 
> And I did warn you. Spastic uploads.

Crowley’s several things.

He deserts. He’s a coward sometimes (no not all the time only some-) and there’s always a chance that he’ll change into a big black snake and command you to eat fruit. Yes, Crowley is many things, actually.

But he isn’t a leaver. Yes, he deserts people when the going gets tough, but he doesn’t leave people he cares about. He knows when he can turn the tides and when he can’t he deserts, but he never leaves.

So when Aziraphale somehow coerced him into finding and listening into demonic meetings, he somehow said yes. He’s been doing it for months now, and the demons are none the wiser.

So here he was, leaning against a large outcrop of rocks in the middle of the woods, arms crossed and face furrowed as he listened in.

“Did it work?”

“Like a charm. And we didn’t just snag the vessel, either.”

“Really?”

“Yup. There was an angel with ‘em. Principality, seems like it.”

By that time, he was very worried. Vessel, a vessel could be anyone. They didn’t say true vessel, so Crowley could hope it wasn’t Dean, but the vessel had an angel with them, a _principality,_ and Aziraphale wasn’t in the bookshop when he checked earlier but he didn’t want to be clingy-

“Wait. Is it the one heaven’s after?”

“Seems like it. He’s the one that stopped the British apocalypse, right?”

“MmmHmm, Brit should’ve stayed over there and kept his nose outta it. S’think he’s given me pity.”

“He’s an angel. He’s probably smite dozens of us. He’s been down here doin it for thousands of years.”

“Even the fallen are wary of him. Especially since Crowley, whatever the angel did to him. You heard he bathed in holy water an’ survived?”

“Rumors, all rumors…”

Yep… that was definitely him. And that meant it was his angel and Dean. What had they done now? The bond he shared with the angel was riddled with annoyance, which didn’t tell him much of his angel’s situation.

Crowley let his senses spread out, latching onto the other demons. Only a few, six or so. A small meeting. All lackeys, too, besides a slightly higher rate demon who was quiet.

There’s another thing we never mentioned about Crowley. He’s smart. We all know he’s smart, so that is not what I didn’t mention. We also know that he knows when he’s outnumbered, when he should fight and when he should flee, he knows how it all works, at the base of it.

What we didn’t mention is that he has an anger streak around a few million miles wide when it comes to a certain angel.

Because he made it clear in the past. He showed many people what would happen if they messed with his angel, Alexander, Cleopatra, Constantine, and Hitler, to name a few. Only he’s allowed to mess with his angel, because he earned that right over thousands of years.

So when he stepped out from behind the rocks and when screams erupted from those woods that night, and when he was the only one to walk out, fingers covered in blood but suit drycleaned, no one could really say they were surprised. Crowley definitely wasn’t.

  
  


Gabe was back.

Crowley learned about that when he kicked open Bobby Singer’s front door. The actual owner of said door was out, but Sam and Gabriel were inside, talking. Sam yelped, gun up in seconds.

Crowley miracles it away, not in the mood as he grabbed a towel and wiped the blood off.

“Where are you coming from?” Sam asked after he got over the fact that his gun was gone. “Who’s blood is that?”

“Demon meeting. Demons.” Crowley grunted. “Doesn’t really matter. My side somehow managed to grab both Aziraphale and Dean.”

That changed the path of the conversation really quick.

“What?” Sam asked. “When?”

“Sometime in the last three hours, I know.” Crowley leaned against the doorway, twitching. It’s been awhile since he’s really flexed his fighting skills, and now he was coursing through adrenaline. “I got the location of the place from one of the demons before I ended him.” His sunglasses fell down his nose as he looked at Gabriel. “Can you fly both of us there?”

“Easily.” Gabe grabbed both of their shoulders. “Sam, pray to Castiel. Lead the way.”

And they were gone.

Cas was there by the time they landed, angel dagger in hand and trench coat flying in the wind. His face was stoic once more. “They have wards against angels inside. We can’t get through.”

“You can’t.” Crowley murmured, grabbing Sam and pulling him forward. “But we can.” He’s an angel, but his grace is to demonic to be stopped by wards against the angelic. He let go of the human, walking forward. He pretended to not notice Sam warily looking at Cas and Gabe, as if not trusting Crowley to not walk him into a trap. He didn’t care if the Winchester believed him.

His sunglasses came off as he went in. The place was littered with lesser demons, none that Crowley recognized. As a plan came to mind, he grabbed Sam, yanking his arm behind him before pushing him forward. “Go with it.” He whispered.

“Fallen.” One of the demons called him, obviously recognizing his power and title but not recognizing who he was. “You caught the other Winchester?”

“No, I caught an aardvark.” Crowley mumbled. “Yes, of course I caught him! You lot needed the help.” He pushed Sam forward. “Bring us to our other captives.”

The demon talking did so with relative quickness. Others, though, as they passed, looked at him warily. Not as if he was a threat, but as if he was suspicious. Crowley flashed his eyes and hissed at those he passed, grinning as they scattered in terror.

“Here they are.” The demon said, opening the door for them. Dean was set up in a normal jail cell, while Aziraphale was gagged and surrounded by fire. Why he was gagged, Crowley had no clue.

“Nice work.” Crowley murmured, before stretching out his tattered grace. While it wasn’t stopped by angel wards, it could still smite a demon or two if necessary. The demon fell dead to the ground, and Crowley released Sam, miracling the cell door open on his way to his angel.

He had just smoldered the fire when a random demon cried out. “Intruders are escaping with the prisoners!”

Crowley cursed, still working on freeing his angel. Aziraphale was sitting down in the middle of the circle on a chair. He had his arms and legs crossed, eyes furrowed in mad disappointment, most likely because they had somehow stopped him from talking.

“Three hours, Angel.” Crowley hissed, trusting the two humans to hold there own for a few minutes. “Can’t leave you alone for _three hours._ ”

Aziraphale’s anger turned to sheepishness, and he stood up.

Crowley stepped forward, through the now destroyed circle, and took off the gag. “You git.”

He smiled pleasantly. “Thank you.” Crowley’s frown deepened, because he couldn’t stay mad when he smiled and it wasn’t _fair._

He huffed. “Your lot, I get, but low rank demons? Seriously? You must be more cautious, American demons aren’t as proper as you're use to.”

Aziraphale finally frowned, rubbing the back of his head. “I noticed, dear.” He muttered, grabbing the demon’s hand and squeezing it for a moment before letting go. “Now, let’s get out of this dreadful place.”

“Not yet.” Crowley mumbled. “Your brothers are looking for blood, and who am I to deny them?”

“Sorry to interrupt the heartful reunion!” Dean shouted. He had taken Sam’s extra gun, but they were both running low. “But can we get going now!?”

Aziraphale frowned at the demons, fixing his collar before striding forward, stopping in front of the two. The demons all took a few steps back. Aziraphale smiled. “There.” He said. “I suggest you all back up and leave, if you wish to survive.”

“There’s to many of us.” One demon whispered. “We can take ‘em.”

“Crowley.” Aziraphale’s voice was going cold. “Check the corner of the room.”

Crowley looked over, as did the other demons. It was one of the wards keeping the angels out. Cutting off one should cut them all off. He grinned and the other’s eyes widened comically.

One demon sped forward to stop him, knowing what waited outside, but Aziraphale caught her by the throat, smiting her before dropping her. He brushed dirt of his coat, smiling happily.

Crowley reached the ward and cracked the stone it was on, smudging it as he went just to be sure. Moments later, after a rush of air, Cas stood next to Dean, and Gabe stood on the other side of the bulk of demons.

“Traitor!” They all hissed at Crowley.

“Hey, he was with us first.” Gabe said breezily, enjoying the fear he got as the demons jumped away from him. “You should have left when you had the chance.”

The following series of events don’t need to be told through words, but through your own imagination. I’ll let you decide exactly how each demon wished they didn’t exist in that moment, and I’ll let you decide who did what in this battle. The only thing I will say is that it lasted for ten minutes and Gabriel had a _lot_ of fun.

After the ordeal, Crowley just wanted to go and sleep, probably in Zira’s house, because he obviously cannot be trusted alone. But with just one look from the big bad archangel, he knew that wouldn’t happen for a bit. They had to family him for a little, because that’s how Gabe was. He always asked how Aziraphale was doin whenever they met (it was awful when they were still discoporating each other, because it was hard to successfully lie to him and he always got discorporated as well.).

He also knew, though, that his angel liked to be preened by his brothers, and since it rarely happens, he went without a grumble. His angel deserved to be smothered for a bit, after this entire shindig.

“I’m disappointed in both of you, honestly.” Gabe drawled, leaned back on a armchair. His arms were crossed. “Dean, you’re a season hunter, Aziraphale, you’re an angel that’s been on earth almost as long as me. What were you two bozos doing?”

Dean stayed silent. Aziraphale wilted. “Dean did realize.” He offered. “It was just to late…”

“Well, it’s in the past.” Dean grunted, standing up. “S’Not the first time any of us have had to deal with demons.”

“Thisss issn’t the couple demonsss you deal with on huntsss, Dean.” Crowley hissed, annoyance clear in his voice. “They know you're a true vessssel.”

“Yeah, about that.” Sam entered the room again, tossing a beer to his brother. He turned to the single demon. “Any idea as to how they figured that out?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Gabriel has spoken last, and he wrinkled his nose. “All archangels know when a true vessel dies, and when a true vessel is united with their specific archangel. Lucifer must have felt it in his cage, and told his lackeys.”

Dean stopped drinking his beer, eyes wide. “What? But I don’t have Michael riding my bones.” He winced at his own words, as if the idea was blasphemy. Gabriel was the only one to notice.

“But you have some of his grace.” Gabe points out. “The necklace might have been suppressing that certain signal. When you took it off…”

“But then, how didn’t you feel the signal?” Sam asked, eyes wide like a puppy. Or a big moose. 

He shrugged. “Maybe I did, but I was figuring it out on my own at the same time. I probably thought that was my eureka moment.”

“Never thought you’d admit you were wrong.” Crowley had calmed down, most likely due to Aziraphale’s hand on his. Gabriel leveled a glare at him. “Look, they’re back, and who took them are quite literally more then dead. As much as I’d like to ridicule them more- and I so _do-_ we need to find out who’s Lucifer’s Vessel is and continue looking for the horsemen.”

Dean stared at him, baffled. “You’re the one getting us back on track?”

The demon looked insulted. He sputtered. “Um, hey, _excuse me,_ but of course I am!” He stared at Gabriel. “How long will the spell take?”

“With help, three days.” Gabriel shrugged. “But it’s suppose to be an archangel secret, so I’m supposed to do it by myself, so a week.”

Sam tilted his head. “You never do what you're supposed to do.”

“The last time I listened to anyone but myself I made a virgin pregnant.” Gabe grinned. “Three days. Aziraphale, I need you off your feathered ass, Cas is to inept for this.”

Cas frowned slightly, but didn’t respond. “We also have Pestilence‘s location, but we don’t know how long he’ll stay there.”

“Yeah, you should go get that.” Gabriel muttered from where he was starting to explain the process of the spell to Aziraphale. The plump angel looked amazed.

“Shouldn’t be impossible. It’s a retired horseman.” Dean stood up, starting to prepare to leave. 

“Uh-“ Crowley stood up after him. “Pestilence invented the bubonic plague. Remember that, killed a ton of you humans? And you don’t have an Antichrist for protection.”

“He is in a different level of monster you’ve ever dealt with.” Cas agreed.

Now Sam was standing up, and everyone could feel the Whinchester tantrum about to start. “What, do you want us to stay here and twidle our thumbs as the apocalypse starts?”

“No.” Cas start calmly. No one was expecting the smirk that appeared. “You’ll help them with the spell.” Then he grabbed Crowley’s shoulder and disappeared with a flap of wings.

Sam cursed, flipping off the air that now filled their space. Dean was too baffled to respond in same.

And that was because, in the moment it took Cas to leave, Dean swore he saw what looked like the outline of something. Something big and strong and and familiar and… soothing.

He saw wings.


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angels, demons, and wings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos & popularity= me crying in the corner
> 
> Heartfelt comments that make me laugh= me crying while throwing out more chapters.
> 
> Basically, I just read every single comment and self cured my depression. 

Crowley luckily stuck the landing. He took a few strides before turning back on the angel. “Just because Zira likes you doesn’t mean you have free range to do whatever you want.”

Cas tilted his head, as if confused, but Crowley could see through his deception. He’s been around his own angel long enough to know when one was acting dumb. Not to mention Cas’ wings were still unwinched, invisible to humans but quiet out for everyone else. Crowley could read him easily. “I only brought you to Pestilence’s location.”

Crowley didn’t bother arguing. The angel was still to bloody up his own arse to argue with. “Whatever.” He muttered. “Let’s just find the bloody horseman.”

The two set off, scanning the worn, decrepit old house warily as they went forward. Even if the old man was retired, just his presence could cause humans problems, and Crowley doubted that he retired and just _stopped_ making diseases. The outbreak of measles in America and the Ebola mess in Africa made him think differently.

“Oi, Pestilence? You home?” Crowley knocked politely once before kicking the door in. He wrinkled his nose at the smell before continuing.

“You seem to have a lot of courage.” Cas muttered, watching him. “For a demon. I saw you at the demonic house, full of your own kind. You didn’t care.”

Crowley snorted. “‘Course I didn’t.” He scoffed. “My Angel was in there, and those buggers were all low class demons. Nothing a fallen couldn’t easily handle.”

“Still.” Cas insisted. “I have seen other fallen flee at the sight of conflict. I’ve seen them flee at the sight of an angel. You are not like the others.”

“Is this your way of saying you approve of me?” Crowley grinned cheekily. “Anyway, enough about me, I want to hear about _you_. You with your young grace and naivety.”

Cas bristled. “I am thousands of years old.”

“I can still see baby feathers sticking out of your wings.” Crowley teased, before tsking. “But you won’t be so innocent for long, will you be? I smell her on you.” Crowley’s smile went thin, turning feral. He took his glasses off, and his snake-like pupils went hard. “Watch yourself.” He hissed. “I practically raised Meg- she’s the only demon I even somewhat like. You cross her, you cross me. _Don’t even dare thinking about smiting her, or_ **_Aziraphale won’t be able to stop me.”_ **

Then his glasses fell back over his eyes, and he smiled, striding forward in his normal stick-up-his-ass gait.

Cas stood still for a moment before ruffling his shoulders. While he did want to talk to the demon about his relationship with Cas’s brother, he didn’t expect Crowley to do the same. There was a human saying like this, right?

Great minds think alike. Oh, yeah.

Cas quickly caught up, a silent nod his only recognition of what Crowley said. “Have you met this horseman before?” Cas changed the topic.

“Yes.” Crowley muttered. “Once when I was still an angel- though I don’t really remember that encounter. And then a few days after I went apple picking. He’s… rightly wary of me.”

“So this should be an easy mission.” Cas said, but his tone held question.

“Here’s to hoping.” He muttered, coming up to a door. Without further ado, he kicked it open. Behind the door stood an old lady, calmly knitting fuzzy socks. Crowley blinked several times behind his glasses. Then, to Cas’ surprise, he whistled. “When’d you change bodies?”

The old lady was more wrinkled than anything else. Neon green eyes crinkled in mirth. “A few centuries back, dear.” She answered, and Crowley scowled, if only for a moment. “I read up on my folklore. People always personify sickness, and they’re not always male.” Haggard old fingers slowly took a ring off her wrinkled finger. “This is what you're here for, hmm?”

Cas stepped forward, holding out a hand. “Yes-“

“Shh, sweetie.” Pestilence hushed. “Grownups are talking.” And just to contradict his point on being mature, Cas huffed and pouted like a child. “Anyway, Crowley, I need some help. Nothing even remotely hard, it’s just been difficult miracling things into existence ever since I retired. Would you be a dear and whip me up a bottle of bubonic plague?”

Cas opened his mouth to immediately decline, but by that time Crowley was already holding the jar in his hands. He tossed it over easily. “Here.” He muttered. “Just be careful with it, Zira will have my head if another epidemic starts.”

“I cannot believe-“ Cas started, But was cut off by Crowley.

Pestilence’s smile was creepy on an old lady. She held out her ring. “A deal’s a deal.”

Crowley took the ring and slid it into his pocket before bowing mockingly. “Always a pleasure.”

As they walked out, she called back. “Don’t bother returning it!”

Cas turned to him once they were outside. “What did you do?” Cas asked, obviously upset. “You just gave the father- the mother of sickness one of her prized creations.”

He shrugged. “Sometimes you have to play a little dirty to get stuff done. We needed the ring, she needed the bubonic plague. She doesn’t need to know that I already sent a cure to the National American and English Health Organization. Nor does she know that I also gave them a vaccination for it. See, no harm done.”

Cas took a moment to think. Compared to the Winchester's loud and brash ideas, Crowley’s low and cunning plans seemed to work better and quicker. Cas liked them better.

But he didn’t tell Crowley that as he grabbed his arm and flew away. Crowley would never know.

  


The next day, Cas flew off, itching to spread his wings with no real target in mind. Since time was practically unimportant to the angel, he doesn’t know how much time passed before his grace finally started to strain. He turned back towards the Winchester’s residence when something much more interesting caught his senses.

“I was starting to think that you forgot about me.”

Cas turned around, face blank as the demon in front of him smiled, seemingly at home when it comes to being cuff to a tree. “You brought this on yourself.” He answered easily.

Meg shrugged. “I didn’t think an angel was the type to believe in karma.” She twisted her wrist, looking at the finely sketched enochian signals on the cuff. When she looked back, she looked irritated. “You’ve had your fun, Clarence, but if your not going to do anything then can you release me? I do have a job to do.”

Cas wouldn’t lie, he was enjoying the sight. He’s seen Meg a few times, every time more interesting than the last, but last time took the cake easily. When he approached, the demon seemed a lot more teasing than normal. She calmed down through their conversation, and when Cas finally lowered his guard, he found himself handcuffed to a tree.

Meg got an incredible laugh out of it. After she had her fun teasing him, he demanded to be let go. She didn’t. She left. 

She left him there for an entire day. Not much to Cas, but it was still very annoying. The only thing he could do was add sigils on to the cuff around his wrist.

So when Meg came back and finally unlocked him, he finally used his angelic power and switched their places easily. Then, with only minor teasing, he left.

Cas glared at the handcuff, and it broke apart, unusable to anyone. Meg traced a red mark on her wrist. “How many more handcuffs does your kind have?” He asked.

She smiled. “Enough to even make _you_ all dewy inside, Clarence.” She purred.

Cas didn’t bat an eye. “Enchiochan engraved handcuffs, Meg.”

Her smile turned into a smirk. “That’s the only one I know about.” She admitted. “Why do you think I brought it up here?”

Cas realized then that she was helping… in her own twisted way. She had her fun with the handcuffs, but she made sure that no other demon got their hands on them. She might’ve saved an angel’s life by doing that. “Thank you.”

She ignored him, continuing on. “I know that’s not the only reason you’re visiting me.” She walked up to him, unafraid. 

“Being a higher level demon who is helping the apocalypse, I have reason to believe that you might know where some horsemen are.” Cas explained sternly, watching warily when Meg circled around him like a vulture. “Any information would be helpf-“ he yelped, jumping forward.

Meg had been behind him. She had stuck her hand out, coming in contact with the tainted part of his wings. The wings shimmered into reality due to the contact. Cas pulled them in close, guarded. Meg stared at them, awestruck. Her hand, surprisingly, didn’t burn. Most likely due to the fact that her fingers touched tainted grace instead of the heavenly stuff.

“Wow.” She breathed. She seemed to remember herself, and smirked, letting off a high pitched whistle. “Got some pretty wings there, Clarence. What happened to that fucked up part?”

Castiel frowned, failing pitifully at making his wings vanish. They didn’t hurt from her touch, but her demonic energy definitely had them high strung. “I was attacked while raising Dean from Hell.”

Her face stayed the same, but her eyes flashed. “I’m guessing you smited the poor demon? Did you know who they were?”

He shook his head. “I was to busy protecting Dean to protect myself.” He replied. “And I don’t know who they were, but their soul was interesting. Cut in half.”

Meg looked shocked for a moment. “Him? Wow. That demon was a guy who Aliastar had his fun with. Had so much fun with him that his soul broke in half, forming two of him. They call him Gemini.” She was quiet for a second, deep in thought, before shrugging. “Oh well. Had a nice talk with you, hopefully next time you bring handcuffs we’ll put them to better use.” She wiggled her fingers at him before disappearing into the ground.

Cas frowned, innuendo flying over his head. Forgetting the last part of the conversation entirely, he took off back to the Winchesters.

  


In Hell, the crossroads demon turned king sighed in irritation. He’d had walked into his office to see two identical demon corpses staining his rugs, with a little note on a postage on one of their faces. _‘Keep your demons away from my angel, or you’ll be next.’_ Was the threat.

He got threats everyday. This one, though, felt more ominous than the ones before. He folded the note and stuck it into his pocket, calling his assistant for tea.

He could already tell that it’d be a long month.

  


When Gabriel and Aziraphale finally finished their spell, Crowley was ecstatic. His angel had been working on the spell 24-7, which meant that unless Crowley wanted to go back alone, he was sleeping at the Winchester’s.

The first day wasn’t so bad, but constantly annoying the two boys lost it’s charm eventually. By the second day, he was utterly bored, enough to dig back into his roots and do some good old fashion tempting. By turning on the sprinklers in a busy cafe and staling all the popcorn in the resident theater, he started to feel less bored.

That didn’t last for long, and any of the _really fun_ temptations would make Zira blow a gasket. They didn’t need that.

The last day Crowley had gave up, shifting into his snake form and slithering up to drape around Aziraphale. The normally fifty foot snake was much too big for the pudgy angel, so after reshifting he found out that a ten foot snake could wrapped around the angel.

He was dozing, head on Zira’s neck, when Gabriel exclaimed. “We’re done! Call the dweebs!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its my own headcanon that Cas is just a prick worse than Gabriel. He totally knows what he’s doing, and he’s using his ‘cluelessness’ to get away with it. That’s why Crowley says something, bc of course he sees through it.  
> And Crowley’s now a gay uncle. Meg needs a gay uncle. She has one now. Even if he fights Zira constantly for their one shared braincell.  
> And Meg is more possessive than protective, but she’s getting there.
> 
> And old horseelder is my new favorite.


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You’re a Vessel, Sammy!

“This doesn’t look like much.” Sam snorted.

“That’s because you don’t have the magic touchy, Sammy.” Gabriel smirked, ignoring Sam’s glare. His clothed toe tapped the circle, and it flared red briefly. “Oo, red, not at all surprising.” He muttered.

Dean watched, one arm outstretched with a cut from his wrist to his elbow leaking blood into a bowl Aziraphale was holding. After almost an entire liter of blood, the angel healed up his wound and told him to go sit on the couch. He dazedly did what he was told. “So, how does this work exactly?”

Aziraphale took the bowl and gave it to Gabriel, who started talking. “Since we don’t want the other bozos knowing what we’re doing, we had to set up an alternative path for Luci’s true vessel.”

“This circle, once started, will stay on until his true vessel steps inside.” Aziraphale explained. “The vessel themselves will gain a mark and a strong urge that leads them here. Having the circle teleport them here would alert Heaven, no doubt.”

“And having the circle show us where they are right now would be throwing them to the demons.” Gabriel finished. “Angels and demons are very intune to this type of ‘magic’.” He looked into the bowl, waving a hand over it. It glowed briefly. “See this?”

Dean grumpily got back up, joining his brother next to the archangel. Dean’s blood was still in the bowl, but then Gabriel waved a hand over it and the blood omitted a soft glow. Dean grunted, alarmed. “What did you do?”

“Nothing.” Gabriel snorted. “That’s just Michael’s grace reacting with my own. Since archangel grace is so powerful, different types coming into close contact with each other will cause a reaction.”

Next to him, Sammy was eating up the knowledge like it was a feast. Dean subtly rolled his eyes, squashing any dumb hope he had. It was so important that the true vessels didn’t say yes, but Dean never even had that option. He didn’t know what annoyed him more; that, or the fact that having the archangel’s grace didn’t worry him as much anymore.

“Alright.” Gabriel looked around the room, before locking eyes with Aziraphale. While he wasn’t super close to anyone, he trusted Aziraphale the most, just because he trained under both Rapheal and Michael, and while Michael was an idiot, Rapheal was usually a good judge of character. He held the bowl with one hand before talking out his archangel blade.

Crowley stood to attention by the doorway. Castiel strode forward on instinct, as if getting ready to march into battle. Aziraphale just yelped in surprise.

Sam and Dean looked confused. “That’s a big angel blade.” Dean grunted.

“That’s not just an angel blade, Dean.” Castiel still stood to stoically while Aziraphale carefully took the weapon. “That’s an archangel blade, one of the only things that can kill an archangel.”

Dean took another look at it. It did have a powerful aura, if he really focused on it. But it was also very plain, and he’d be lying to say he’s impressed. When he thought about something that could kill the devil, he expected a flaming white stained holy sword. “Such a powerful sword and it’s not even flaming.” He spoke in distain.

Gabriel turned around so quickly he scared Aziraphale into almost losing the blood bowl. “I _don’t_ want to hear _anything_ else about how much cooler your sword is, Michael!”

Dean crossed his arms. “Well it’s true.” He said back snootily. “I mean, it’s so plain, you never decorated it!”

“It’s a killing machine, not a doll!” Gabriel replied, wrinkling his nose. “You know, we’re supposed to be teaching the humans _not_ to have vanity, right?”

“It’s okay to have some pride over a prized possession.” Dean argued back, and the two didn’t notice the others in the room, watching curiously. “You’re just upset that your sword doesn’t ignite.”

“You give my igniting sword to one of your pupils!” Gabriel protested. “He’s down watching the gates, doing who knows what- that fledgling is going to lose it-“ Gabe finally froze, as if finally realizing that he wasn’t actually talking to his brother. He took a shaky step back, looking away. Dean looked nothing like Michael, but Gabriel could _feel_ his grace, swirling around in his and reacting, causing old memories to surface in both of them. He can’t be around Dean without remembering how much he missed them.

“Anyway.” Gabriel coughed, turning back to the task after flicking Dean in the head. Dean blinked, confused, but Gabe didn’t give him the time to ask. He turned to Aziraphale, holding out the meaty part of his arm. “Be gentle, I’m delicate.”

Sam snorted as Aziraphale carefully manuerved the blade over to where a vein of grace was moving just under the skin. Even though he was careful, he underestimated the power of the blade, which cut threw the archangel like he was soft butter. Gabriel grit his teeth as a minuscule part of his grace was destroyed, but didn’t let anyone see his pain.

“Great job.” He muttered before Aziraphale could start apologizing. He forced a thick glob of grace out of his wound, letting it float in the air by an invisible tether connected to him while he healed his own wound. After he was sure he wouldn’t lose anymore grace, he took back his blade, making it disappear into the unknown. “Had to take the extra one.” He grumbled. “Because someone decided to just take the random flaming sword he found just _lying around-“_

Dean responded, but this time he knew it was just Dean speaking. “You left it out at the training yards. Michael found it with a baby angel teething it.”

Gabriel paused. “That’s where it went!” 

Crowley groaned from his spot. “These two were supposed to be in charge.” He muttered.

Gabe aptly ignored him, taking his grace and spreading it out so that it formed another layer of the circle. Once it was set, he laid it down. The circle came to life underneath him as he took a small remaining piece of grace and put it in the blood bowl. The bowl exploded into noise, sizzling like it was cooking food. It glowed brightly as he placed it into the middle of the circle.

Aziraphale needed no que. Immediately, he started chanting, and once Gabriel left the circle he joined. Castiel and Crowley pulled the two human brothers back as the angels chanted.

The room flashed white, and by the time Dean could clearly see again, the circle was glowing and humming softly. Aziraphale looked exhausted, and Gabriel was grinning. “It’s on.”

Sam looked baffled and surprised as he watched the circle. Crowley walked over to Aziraphale. “Alright, your three day project is over. Let’s get you some sleep.”

He started pulling Aziraphale out of the room, but the angel was stubborn, wanting to check the circle to make sure everything was okay.

“Gabriel can finish that, brother.” Castiel informed. “Even though angels do not require rest, it appears that you do. Your time on earth has weighed down on you.”

“There’s nothing you can do anyway.” Crowley continued. “All we can do is wait now.”

“I don’t think we have to.”

Dean turned towards his brother, who was rubbing his face. He caught a glimpse of something black on his arm. Had he gotten a tattoo? “Whatcha mean, Sammy?”

Sam glanced at him, eyes full of emotion, before walking forward. As his last foot crossed into the circle, the glow faded and it turned off. Sam raised his arm to show a mark, which was quickly fading.

It was quiet for a few moments.

“Shit.”

  
  


Sam Winchester is many things.

One, he’s very smart, so smart that he was the kid both regular kids _and_ bullies came to when they needed help, when he was younger. He was so smart that bullies couldn’t bully him because he had other bullies that he tutored protecting him.

Two. He loves his brother. He truly does. Just because sometimes he wants to send him back to hell the hard way doesn’t mean he doesn’t love him. He’d take on the whole world for his brother, demon blood or not. He’s lost to much to lose him again.

Three. He’s a fluctuating liar. Sometimes, he can lie so well that his own father questioned their relations. Other times, he can’t lie well, even if his life depended on it. It was why is darling, loving, _best brother I could ever ask for-_ was going to kill his girlfriend. Yeah, he needed help with that.

And four, he’s a Taurus. And the Weekly Lower Tadfield Astrology predictions a certain boy with glasses (who grew up into a fine, dashing young man) was reading, Taurus’ go as shown.

**Taurus [April 21- May 20]**

**You feel guilty over something you took when you shouldn’t have. You’ve done it multiple times, and you want to stop but can’t. Learn to say no to these temptations. Say yes to a new friend. You may be vulnerable to a stomach upset today, so avoid salads.**

And, of course, that was all true.

Except for the bit about the salad.

So when the time came and he realized how screwed he was, he just… stopped. Not thinking about it wouldn’t make it go away, but it would make it easier to ignore it. Besides, he rather focus on his astrology prediction that he had no clue even existed.

Because he really does feel guilty about Ruby. Not guilty enough to stop (-he’s gotta cut off a bitch’s head somehow. Lilith still wasn’t free from him-) but enough to strongly think about it.

Crowley solves it for him.

The demon walked in right before he took a big slurp of that good ole ripe blood, and wrinkled his nose. “Sam, I expected better.”

That voice had Ruby up faster than Sam’s ever seen. “It’s you.” She said with joy. “It’s you! Crowley! It’s such an honor!”

Sam was almost dumbfounded. He didn’t know what confused him more, Ruby’s admiration or Crowley’s popularity. “Ruby?”

She seemed to forget he was there. She sagged slightly, eyes flashing with worry for a moment, most likely wondering why exactly Crowley was there. “It’s, it’s been so long since anyone’s heard of you, after that wretch angel started bothering you- why are you here?”

Crowley stayed still for a moment, before smiling widely. “Ruby! It’s absolutely amazing to finally meet you! I could ask you the same thing.” Crowley’s glasses lowered, showing yellow eyes. “Why are you feeding a human demon blood? Who gave you these orders?”

Sam was about to interrupt and say that no one was ordering her, when Ruby wilted and he held his breath. She seemed to realize that she wilted and quickly corrected herself. She sighed. “You wouldn’t be the first demon that tried to taint Sam’s thoughts-“ Crowley snorted, and maybe Sam really liked him- “-So I’ll tell you now that it won’t work. I’ll answer you elsewhere.”

It was obvious that something was going on, but it was also obvious the Crowley was Ruby’s star for some reason, and Sam just now realized that he could finally figure out what he didn’t like about Ruby by pretending he didn’t know Crowley. He grabbed Ruby’s wrist as she stood. “How do we know he’s trustful?” Sam said warily, catching Crowley’s shielded eyes. The demon smirked.

Ruby gave him a small smile, barely holding back her excitement. “Crowley’s a fallen angel, and a big name when it comes to sinning. He’s been up on earth ever since the fall, he’ll stand up to anything, even angels. He can cause mass sins, something even Beezlebub can’t do. He went off grid a bit ago due to an angel, but I knew he wouldn’t be held down long.” She leaned in, whispering the next bit, but Sam knew Crowley could still hear, due to his grin. “If anyone knows the whereabouts of anyone, it would be him. He might even know where Lillith is.”

Sam gave the fallen angel a once over, before grumbling. “Be careful.”

The female demon kissed him and left. Crowley gave him a disgusted look before he turned and followed her. Sam resisted the urge to flip him off. He was agitated- it’s been a bit since he last filled up.

A few minutes passed, and the lights flickered before Crowley strolled back in as if nothing had happen. He had three long scratches on his cheek that were slowly healing up, but he didn’t seem to notice them. “Come’on, Sam.” He hefted him up by he arm. “Should be able to fly you back.” He murmured.

“Wait-“ Sam might’ve trusted him more then Ruby, but dammit he _needed-_

Crowley placed two fingers against Sam’s head, and suddenly he was in a memory.

_Crowley closed the door behind him as Ruby lead him out to the side of the motel, away from peaking eyes. “I can’t believe I’ve actually gotten the chance to meet you- I’ve been up here for hundreds of years and I haven’t even seen of glimpse of you bef-“_

_Crowley cut off the praising. He use to never know he had such a devoted demonic following. Then he met one demon named Gregory in the BC area that was smitten with him, and ever since then he’s been meeting more and more. The lackey demons had a strange fascination with him, especially the way he created sinners._

_He usually just ignored them, but now he couldn’t Go- Sat- Lor- whatever dammit! “Later.” He snapped. “What are you doing? Giving a potential psychic demon blood?”_

_Ruby’s smile tightened, but she was still excited. Leaning forward, she whispered. “He’s one of the final candidates, maybe the only one left. Lillith thinks he’ll be Lucifer’s Vessel.”_

_Crowley arched an eyebrow. “You are jumping very far ahead. First Lillith needs to open the last gate, and secondly, I know about Sam and Dean Winchester. Isn’t Sam gunning to kill her?”_

_Ruby’s smile became devious. “Exactly.” She purred. “He’ll kill Lillith, which will unlock the final seal and release the devil. Or-“ she took another look at him. “You could fulfill your own prophecy and jumpstart the apocalypse for us. You’re level in power with that angel right now, since you both use created bodies. Why don’t you find and kill him already?”_

_Sam was looking through Crowley’s eyes, so he couldn’t see his emotions, but he could feel his hands clench minutely. “You must have that prophecy mistaken, since you clearly don’t know that it takes both of our simultaneous deaths to release the hound. That, unsurprisingly, is a difficult one time thing to do.” His smile rose. “And I doubt you have clearance to know about the details of the apocalypse.”_

_Ruby bristled. “I may not be a fallen.” She hissed, and there was a flash, and Sam could see her true form, drooping and black like tar. “But I’ve worked hard to get where I am. I’ve spent years getting Sam Winchester to trust me, and when it’s all over and the devil controls earth, maybe you’ll be listening to my orders!”_

_Maybe her fangirling stage was over._

_Crowley leaned forward, still smiling. “Are you forgetting that you’re a demon?” He chuckled, and Sam wanted to back up and run. Crowley didn’t feel like Crowley anymore. He felt like an actual yellow eyed demon. “Humans might have rules against killing others just because they annoy them, but demons have no such problems.”_

_Ruby snarled, human body becoming more and more transparent and her real form seemed to emerge. Long claws appeared from her sludge like fingertips. Sam doubted he would see this if he was outside with them, and he didn’t know how to feel about that. Demons looked horrid._

_She seemed to forget that she was very outmatched. “You didn’t disappear because of the angel, did you?!” She taunted. “You disappeared because you lost your touch! Do you even talk to the high command anymore? You use to be the best! You disappeared because you knew that angel would destroy you!”_

_Crowley sighed boredly. “Are you done yet? I have places to be.”_

_That was most likely the last straw. Ruby darted forward, slashing down. Crowley took a step back a little to slow, and Ruby’s claws raked against his cheek. “You've gotten slow-“_

_Ruby’s last comment was cut off, since a specific someone had taken his own turn, appearing in front of the demon and grabbing her by the throat. “Never forget who you’re talking to.” Crowley hissed, and this time, Sam could see_ _Crowley’s_ _body fade, showing his true form underneath. It was the whitish blue of grace, but with a layer of garish black covering. It looked like a human arm, besides the fact that there were several of them. Before Ruby could attack again, Crowley snapped her neck and dropped her._

_She crumbled to the ground. Crowley looked at her for a second, scratched the tattoo on the side of his face, and walked back to the motel room._

Sam blinked, and they were back at Bobby’s. Dean had seemingly gone out for a drink, most likely taking Cas with him. Aziraphale and Gabriel were still there, switching between making plans and chatting about the past.

“I haven’t done this much work since Dad made me come out of hiding to get someone pregnant.” Gabriel leaned back in his chair, eyeing the two new men in the room. “Someone looks upset.” He mumble, staring at Sam.

“A story for later.” Crowley said, before giving Sam a pointed look. “A story that's very important to learn from. But for now, Gabriel, can you fix a demon blood addiction?”

Gabe wrinkled his nose. “I remember Raph saying something about it, what, is Sammy finally going to out himself?”

Sam’s eyes widened, and he felt guilty for a flash of a moment. “You knew?”

“Sammy, you’re surrounded by supernaturals.” Gabe ignored the glare he got. “The smell’s rolling off of you in waves. I bet even Dean senses it, even if he doesn’t know that he does.” He stood up, pressing two fingers against Sam’s forehead. “I can’t get rid of the blood, but I can block the withdrawal symptoms. I’ll pick up the block after you're done withdrawals, you’ll never even feel it.”

And… he was right. Sam didn’t feel any type of craving, he felt normal again. It’s been a long time since he’s felt that. “Thanks.”

“No problem Sammy.” Gabe grinned, before getting up and stretching, winking at his brother. “Well, this has been an eventful week. I need some time off- I’ll be back in a few days.”

Sam might’ve said something, but he thought against letting the archangel stay. Gabe continued. “You two should get back to wherever you come from as well.” He nodded to the angel and demon. “Now, a trickster’s needed back in Vegas. I hope my coupon is still valid-“

He flew away before he finished talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We love a zodiac sign.  
> And Gabe loves talking about the time he got a virgin pregnant.


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m all confused about my own story

Aziraphale planned to take Crowley straight back home, but on the way he felt a strong angelic presence surrounded by something big and demonic. His faithful heart couldn’t leave behind a brother in trouble.

Crowley groaned when he felt the change in direction.

They landed, surprisingly, in Aziraphale’s library. Maybe his sense is messed up, since it wasn't much of a detour at all.

Dean stood at the door, holding it closed as demons banged on the outside. His eyes lit up in relief when he saw them. “I can’t go out for  _ one _ midnight pie run.” He murmured. The angelic presence was oozing from him, it seemed. He definitely didn’t notice that he was basically a beacon for everything around the town. A big neon ‘hurt-and-scared-angel’ sign right over his head. Someone needed to teach him.

Crowley walked forward. “You’ve been alone for two hours and you already managed to find trouble.”

Dean cursed at him, shuddering at a particularly hard blow to the door. “Think I’m trying to draw attention to myself?” He exclaimed. “I was eating pie and then this lady was sniffing me like a fucking dog!” He glared at the two. “None of you told me I smelled like fuckin’ angel!”

“You didn’t before.” Aziraphale said softly, trying to sooth him (since he was now radiating ‘I’m-hurt-and-vulnerable-someone-please-come-and-kill-me’ vibes). “But you definitely do now. Calm down and back away from the door. I’ve set a binding spell.”

Dean cautiously let go, sighing when the door held without him. He swept a hand over his forehead. “I need a drink.” He murmured. Crowley clicked his fingers, and a glass of whiskey appeared in Dean’s hand. He raised it in silent cheers before downing it and grimacing. “Thanks. Now, what should we do about those big bags of dicks out there?”

“We should get you home first.” Aziraphale said. “I’m surprised Cas isn’t with you.”

“He drank out the bar and left. I looked for a pie.” Dean murmured. “Demons appeared and I ran ‘cause I left my gun at home.”

It was at that moment that the ground rumbled. Dean, drunker than he thought he was, fell back on the couch. Crowley went to stand in front of Aziraphale as the ground opened up and a figure emerged.

Crowley stared for a moment before deflating. “Ugh, not you.”

Beezlebub frowned. “Don’t talk back to your superiors.” It buzzed. 

“I cut ties with Hell years ago.” Crowley spat. “So you can take your superiority and shove it up your arse-“

“We’re all over this tantrum you’re throwing.” Beezlebub growled. “We may not know how you survived holy water, but we do know that you’re not indestructible. Complete the prophecy, and you’ll die a true demon of Hell. Do not, and we’ll find a better method to release the hound.”

“What is with you guys and prophecies today?” Crowley groaned. “Was It Ruby?”

Beezlebub smiles. “She came back down to hell with some very interesting news, earlier today. It was always obvious who the prophecy may be about, but you confirming it also confirmed it for us. Guess we should thank you for that.”

“You're welcome.” Crowley said, before taking off his shades. His eyes were alight with fire. “Now,  _ get out!” _

The archdemon paused, before laughing. Dean, who had been silent, pressed deeper into the couch. Normally, he would be up and fighting, but in a room with an angel and 2 demons, he was out of his league. Not only that, but the grace inside him was screaming at him to stay still and silent, like it knew he was outmatched too.

“You’ll learn soon.” The demon tutted. “Aliastar’s been looking to get you back on the rack, especially since you took his prized pupil.” Finally, the demon turned to look at him. It scanned him once, and his grace shivered, as if feeling him looking. “Who would’ve known? Michael’s righteous true vessel, forever tainted by Hell and sin.”

No one spoke, wisely not telling him that Dean’s soul was once again clean from hell’s ash. “Love the poetry.” Aziraphale finally spoke up. “Now, my associate has kindly and politely-“ Dean smiled. “-asked you to leave. If you do not, I will be forced to make you.”

Beezlebub’s smile was back. “You think a principality can take me?”

“I’ve dealt with Crowley for thousands of years.” Aziraphale shrugged listlessly, but his eyes held danger. You've been in hell for so long, becoming rusty. I hope you don’t choose to fight us, as you would most certainly lose.”

Dean never thought he'd find Aziraphale slipping an angel blade into his wrist actually intimidating.

The demon’s eyes widened for a second, before he glared. “You  _ really _ think you can take me?!” It was a roar. “Me?! An archdemon! A fallen?!”

Crowley snorted. “Please, you were never that good at fighting, no matter how much you boast. And that intimidation tactic? Adam and Eve fighting are scarier than you.”

Aziraphale’s face twisted, and he shuttered. “I thought we'd agree to never bring that up again.” He murmured, eyes flashing. “I thought Eve was going to take my sword and stab him.”

Dean had no clue what they were talking about, but something about the first man and woman having relationship problems just like everyone else made them so much more believable (like, before this he basically stayed away from religion unless it was part of a hunt, so he has no preference, and he still hasn’t really connected that if there are angels and demons and satan then there would be everything else as well. He still doesn’t know what he thinks, really) then before. If Adam’s still around, because that is a possibility, Dean’s sure that they can get a beer together sometime.

Beezlebub growled (more like buzzed-) and took a step forward, glaring at the other demon, but Aziraphale was quick to step in, hilt of his dagger clenched he’d firmly in his hands. The angel that Dean knew was still there, still short and a bit pudgy- but Dean, or maybe Dean’s grace, could see something much more menacing and pure hiding underneath his layer of skin. “You’ve heard his answer.” Zira’s eyes were hard and cold, glowing dully. “Leave, now. And I swear to  _ God, _ if I ever hear you threaten him again, you won’t live to see the next day.”

There were several different expressions around the room.

Firstly, Dean was downright terrified, not that he’d ever admit it. Crowley had the smallest smile on his face, like the threat of death didn’t loom in the air, Aziraphale was cold and determined and Beezlebub-

Beezlebub’s face fluctuated between pissed off and scared to piss. “Don’t think you’ve won yet. This apocalypse will be different.” And with a wrinkle of a very disfigured nose, the archdemon disappeared into the ground below.

Aziraphale smiles cheerfully, flicking his wrist. The blade disappeared and after a brush of his tartan jacket he spun around and beamed at the demon. “Oh, did I do good?” He asked, face fluttering to a concerned frown for a second. “I hope it was believable.”

Crowley’s hand danced around his angel’s shoulder. “You did wonderful, angel. He didn’t realize.” Crowley assured.

“Wait.” Dean almost froze when the two looked at him, old hunter instincts demanding he pull out a gun. He licked his lips, fought the urge, and continued. “You were faking that whole threat?”

The two looked at him quizzically, before Aziraphale chuckled. “Oh, dear, no.” He chortled. “I’m not up to date on Beezlebub’s powers, so I was -what do you humans call it?- oh, ‘bullshiting’ my way through it. My threat, though-“ his eyes flickered, and Dean took a step back. “ _ I meant every single word.” _

  
  
  


In a dark, tainted church many miles away, a thing masquerading as a woman placed a bowl on the ground, the tip of her finger hovering above the contents of the bowl before she moved away.

With a quick sound, another lady scrambled up to her. “I’m sorry.” The lower level demon pleaded. “Let me fix this-“

“No need.” The other demon interrupted. “I always knew there was a chance that you’d screw up. Now, I didn’t expect the traitor to come out from hiding, but he hardly matters. I had another way to set the devil free, just in case.”

The other demon perked up. “Really?” Her voice jumped in pitch. ”What can I do?”

The demon studied her. “Sam Winchester fed from only you, correct?”

Ruby nodded firmly. “No one else.” She confirmed.

The higher demon looked her over. She tutted. “It’s have to do.”

“What-“ Ruby started, before screaming. Moments later, the freshly killed demon’s body lay in a corner, blood completely drained, filling up a new large bowl.

The other demon took a second before waving her hand around the blood. A sliver of unique blood (someone else’s blood) raised from the bowl, infusing into a blade on the table.

The demon grinned, finishing her ritual before grabbing the dagger. “Your time has come.” She whispered. “Be free once again.”

She drew the blade back, before Lillith, the first demon, plunged it into her stomach.

Miles away a powerful angel dropped his cards in shock. His poker chips were thrown on the floor.

Another angel grabbed his demon’s wrist, as if that could make it all just a dream. Beezlebub’s last warning now made sense.

A demon smiled flirtatiously at her own angel, savouring the sour look on his face. “We win.” She said simply.

And, lastly, a human with a not so quite human undertone sat down on a couch, unshed tears falling. He didn’t know why, but he knew it was important.

  
  


Well, he wasn’t wrong. The devil being freed  _ was _ pretty important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven’t seen ERB’s Adam vs Eve go look it up right now on YouTube.


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanksgiving happened, for those who celebrate it. I ate a lot. It was nice.

“We’re moving.”

Sam looked dumbfounded as Gabriel appeared in thin air (he came from the kitchen for God’s sake, _five steps)_ holding a box. “Fit everything you need in the Impala, you have five minutes before I take everything and leave you stranded.”

Sam was still in shock.

Apparently, the devil had been freed.

And, of course, he was a prime target.

They were protected from Lucifer, yes, but Gabe said that there was multiple ways for an archangel to find his true vessel and he for once was actually hauling ass so Sam knew that this was important.

Dean, of course, was already done packing. “Where are we going?” He asked. “And what about Bobby?”

“He’s tracking your dim witted brother, not the house.” Gabe hissed. “And Crowley finally decided to get that stick out of his ass. He said we could stay in a vacation home. Completely sealed and warded.”

“He has a vacation home?” Dean asked as he pushed his brother towards his room. Sam was still in shock, he needed the push.

“Of course I do.” Crowley snapped as he appeared from thin air, arms crossed with Aziraphale by his side. “Any self respecting demon does.”

Cas paused, face scrunched up, as if to argue, before stopping himself. Dean put that on his mental list of ‘what the actual fuck is going on around him?’ He’d get through the list eventually, even if he dies and has to ask God the rest of the questions.

Wait, Micheal’s grace says he’s MIA (he’s not surprised, he never had a good experience with a dad- except for Bobby) so maybe he’d have to die then ask _Michael_. Hopefully, the archangel won’t be mad, because Dean’ll be surprised if Michael never tries to get him to say yes. His lackeys are already on his ass, and Dean doesn’t completely trust the grace inside him, so it could be lying about Michael’s location (heaven, a stronghold, Rapheal, little bits and pieces-) right now.

He’s off topic, isn’t he?

“How far away is it?” Dean asked, shaking his head slightly. Not the time to worry about Michael. Lucifer, though, that’s a problem.

“And how did he escape?” Sam’s eyes were starting to go frantic. “What did Lillith do?”

“Used Ruby, I bet.” Crowley butted in. “The last seal is Lillith herself. Both have been trying to get you to kill her, since she most likely can’t do it herself.”

Sam’s eyes widen, guilt and shame flying through them. “But I didn’t.” He bit out. “So how’s she dead?”

“Someone else could’ve killed her.” Gabriel shrugged. “She could’ve used Ruby to gather some of your essence -you’ve been sucking her dry for a while, she definitely has some- and used that to kill herself. Probably thought it was symbolic, having Lucifer’s true vessel kill her.”

“She was a right devoted bitch.” Crowley growled. “First demon ever- very messed up in the head.”

Don’t they all know it.

“Anyway.” Gabriel turned back to look at Dean. “To far for you to drive unprotected. I’ll transport you there.”

Dean nodded, before arching an eyebrow. “For wanting nothing to do with the apocalypse, you sure are being helpful.”

“Yeah.” Gabe grinned. “I’m being helpful by stopping the apocalypse. Besides, the last false apocalypse I did the opposite and the world was almost destroyed.” He glanced at Aziraphale, who winced. “Why eleven? That’s way too young to conquer the world.”

The angel winced again. “Eleven year olds were much more mature back at the beginning.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Who told you that? Eleven year olds are always idiots. You should’ve seen Raph when we-“

“I have no clue what you guys are talking about.” Sam cut him off, ignoring his glare. “But we can talk about this later. Let’s get out of this house.”

Dean was in the same way. He had left Bobby a note, but he doesn’t want to put the old hunter into any unneeded danger. Besides, said old hunter would most likely try to shoot him after he read said note, so he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Quickly changing topic, he looked at the angel demon duo. “Do we have any more info on where the other horsemen are?” It was now _much_ more important for them to get the keys, now that the devil was most likely after them.

“No.” Aziraphale wilted. “But the last three should be much easier to find- just follow their footprints. Unlike Pencillance, they aren’t retired, so they’re still working.” He paused, before frowning and looking at Crowley. “I can’t believe you gave them the bloody bubonic plague.”

Crowley shrugged. “No harm done.” He sniffed. “But we should avoid the Amazon for awhile, at least until granny calms down.”

Cas frowned in almost perfect mimicry of Aziraphale’s. “They won’t be happen with a unviable disease.” He confirmed.

They all looked at Dean, like they had answered his question, but the man in question had left a bit ago, and was just now coming back with a full suitcase.

  
  
  


“You’ll miss me, won’t you?” 

She grinned at the confused look Cas gave her. “What do you mean?” He asked. “We will surely meet again.”

Meg rolled her eyes. “I’m posted right here, so unless I go looking for you, this is our last dance.”

“I could go looking for you.” Castiel mused, missing the baffled look on her face, before it disappeared.

“Aww, so sweet of you, Clarence.” She purred. “Such an angelic thing to do. Now, go on and flap those tarnished wings of yours back to your Winchesters.”

Now, Cas might be slightly dense, but he’s smart, he knows what he’s doing. He gets some social cues. This one was obvious- she was upset. “We will meet again.” He spoke determinedly, trying to stabilize her worries.

Her smile held less thorns in it than usual. “You remind me of a movie I once watched when I was human.” She tilted her head, lost in thought, before grinning. “Such a long time ago.”

Cas, sadly, wasn’t good enough at social cues to stop there. “Why do I remind you of a human’s sloth like pastime?”

Meg’s face lost the grin. “You’re impossible.” She muttered, before coming up close to him and kissing his cheek. “Stay safe.” Cas wasn’t sure if he imagined the voice or not. She backed up with a large smile on her face. “And say hi to Crowley for me. Tell him he needs to visit more.”

And then she was gone, absorbed by the ground. Cas watched her leave, and watched the junkyard become more and more dark as she did. Cas felt like it should’ve been the other way around.

  
  


They touched down to a problem.

No one really knows where Crowley’s vacation home was, so when they followed him they expected no trouble. I mean, Crowley expected no trouble either but he really should’ve known better- he’s been alive since before the beginning, he should know all the tricks.

So when he landed with Aziraphale moments before the others, he felt like something was off but couldn’t recall what it was.

Maybe next time he’ll think to look down and recognize the about-to-be ring of fire. Or he’ll see the faint demonic binding ring. At least something, this _is_ his house.

But no dice. As soon as Cas and Gabe flapped in with their own Winchester (Crowley heard an irritated honk for the car being dropped outside) the ring of fire became aflamed and suddenly there was a demon circle as well. Great job, Crowley, you did swell.

When everyone finally realized what happened it was Sam who first went up to the seal, which was on the other side of the fire. He overstepped the fire, putting a foot down over the seal.

“Do not interfere, vessel.”

And then the gangly moose had lost half of a lung- a misfortunate side effect of douchebag angels. Dean was in fact thrown against a wall, breath taken away in the same manner (Crowley thought he was clever, _breath taken away-_ he just lost half a lung too) and by then the supernatural could pinpoint what was happening and _why._

There were two other angels, and while Crowley only recognized Uriel, Zira’s constant mutterings told him the other one was Zachariah, one that Crowley specifically remembers wanting to throw off Heaven at every possible moment. Well, not good.

“I was wondering when you two would finally pair up.” Gabriel murmured, arms crossed. “You both _are_ dicks, so it makes sense.”

No one said anything about Uriel’s female suit. While many angels had gotten with the times, some like Zachariah still thought it wrong to use a woman as a meat suit. Maybe he still grudges on Eve or something, but whatever it is it’s something no one talks about.

Uriel didn’t take the bait. “We will discuss you at a later date, Gabriel.” She said. “You have been missing from Heaven for almost 6 thousand years.”

He snorted. “You guys didn’t notice.” He snapped. “Had to much fun with my imposter. Anyway, would you kindly give the humans their lungs back before I get out and replace their missing ones with your own?”

Uriel arched an eyebrow while Zachariah laughed. “Not even an archangel could get out of a circle rimmed in holy fire.”

Gabe had a look to him that said _watch me._

Cas glanced at the two slowly dying Winchesters and frowned. “Why are you here?”

“Straight to the point with him.” Zachariah mumbled, before speaking aloud. “This demon and this angel have a job to do, and we’re here to see it be done.” He announced. “And since both vessels are here, it’d be smart to take them both with us.”

Dean seemed to hack blood extra hard at that.

“That’s not happening.” Gabriel’s voice could be considered a growl by then, and while it seemed like it was just him saying utter nonsense, Dean was inching slowly closer to the demon’s circle, and Sam was moving to block the angel’s view of it.

“And newsflash, Beezlebub already visited us.” Crowley started. “Yeah, remember them? One of the strongest fallen, could probably destroy both of you?” Talking right out of his arse on this one- “If they couldn’t change our minds, then you two have nothing.”

“We have leverage.” Uriel was becoming annoyed. “Dean, as Michael’s vessel, will be spared, but it would be better to destroy Sam before Lucifer finds him anyway. And we have no use for a rogue angel.” She gestured to Cas, who was quiet but in that sassy angry way of his.

Crowley avoided snorting, because of course he wouldn’t do it. He’s a practical guy, he’s not going to help end the world for just two people (and not even his favorite two, since Gabe and Dean are apparently off limits) but he knows Zira would, which is why he was prepared for the angelic pleading eyes. “No.” He said sternly.

“While you two argue it out.” Zachariah looked amused in a disturbing way. “I should bring Dean up to heaven. Michael’s been in a right funk for centuries-“

He didn’t get to finish, because they didn’t seem to know that Dean wasn’t completely incapacitated (angel grace-) and could still flop along the floor until he reached the demonic circle. They didn’t noticed that he had even broken the circle until Crowley had grinned and the Winchester’s had taken a deep, full lunged breath.

And then the fire was out.

Gabriel was in front of them in a second, hands clenching both of their necks. “Would anyone else like a go?”

“All yours.” Zira muttered, and the archangel’s face looked completely demonic as he disappeared. The angel looked into the sky, formed a cross on his chest, and turned to the Winchesters, hands outstretched. “Oh dear, that must’ve hurt.”

Sam spit out a glob of blood as Dean laid on his back. “S’think it’s worse than drowning.” Dean slurred, arm covering eyes as exhaustion took hold. “We should ward the hou-“

Cas cut him off. “I will do so. You should rest.”

“I doubt anymore of those bastards will be around anyway, they don’t like this area.” Crowley shrugged.

“Where are we?” Sam coughed.

“A place for sinners.” Zira said with a faint smile. “Las Vegas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Uriel is a bit different (female like Good Omens) but Zach is still a bitch so don’t worry.


	13. Chapter 12

At first Dean was praying that they were in Trump Tower, but then Crowley scoffed and said he stopped getting involved in American politics in the early 1800s. He had shaken the president’s hand at a point just to say that he had, but besides that he hadn’t messed with him or the president before or before him.

“American presidents are paradoxical in a sense.” Crowley said at one point. “We demons have been trying to persuade them for ages, with no luck. Higher command doesn’t like it when we tell them that Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not us whatsoever. Nothing they do is us, and neither is it the angels. Surprisingly, they told the truth when they said they had a free country. Surprisingly strong free will is what they meant.”

“Stubbornly strong.” Aziraphale murmured. “I was shot several times after I made the  _ tiny _ suggestion to change things up in Louisiana.”

When Dean looked confused Crowley moved closer and whispered. “It was the civil war.”

Oh.

“So you guys haven’t done anything in America?” Dean asked after his surprise melted.

“We done lots.” Crowley corrected. “They’re all just strikingly small compared to a country like France. The key point is, we don’t  _ have _ to do anything, you lot do it all yourself. You're a breadbasket of self made sinners and saints. We don’t even have to nudge ya.”

Dean didn’t know if that was a compliment or an insult. 

After a thirty minute crash on a leather couch, the older hunter was back to full- or, as full as he normally was. Losing an organ hurt like a mother, and now he had the urge to not only stab Zachariah with an angel blade, but to also cut off his wings and let him fall because  _ how dare he hurt his vessel- _

“Think we’re forgetting the important point right now.” Crowley butted in, snaking dean from his thoughts. “They’re idiots for trying to antagonize us into a fight, but the freakin  _ devil _ is walking around earth right now looking for this one-“ he jabbed a finger at Sam. “-while aiming to kill this one-“ a finger at Dean, “and even with Gabriel we’re poorly matched.”

Dean scoffed. “He can’t take us all.”

“He’s the freakin devil,  _ of course he can. _ ” Crowley reiterated, eyebrow arching as if Dean’s an idiot for saying that. “But that’s not the point. The point is we’re defenseless, because I only see one ring in this apartment!”

Cas knitted his eyebrows together, but the look didn’t fool Dean this time. He could see the irritation underneath it. He bet Crowley could see it too. “Is this about the song I’ve heard about? If there is something to like, then humans put rings on it.”

“Ssshut it!” Crowley whirled on him, thoroughly done. “Stop the fake confusion, angel, or so help me Zira won’t be able to-“

The angel referenced grabbed the demon’s shoulder and pulled him back. When Crowley glared, the angel kept a hard face back, until the demon gave up. Aziraphale grinned before whispering something in his ear. 

Crowley went red in embarrassment. “Don’t you dare.” He whispered, before turning back towards them. “The rings.” Was all he said.

Sam stepped forward, done with being out of the conversation. “War, Death, and Famine.” He started. “Death will be the hardest to find, but the good news is while War and Famine are getting energy from different countries, we aren’t in a great drought or world war, so they won’t be overpowered.”

“To bad that goes opposite for Death.” Crowley grunted. “You humans breed like rabbits. Instead of only a few million humans, there are now billions. Thousands of people die everyday.”

That was a relieving and terrifying thought at the same time.

  
  
  


A good bit across the country (because, unlike what the angels thought, the devil didn't have a FindMySam app currently installed so he was kinda blundering around until demons did the work for him-) Lucifer sat down in a bar chair and slammed back a shot of strong liquor. "Would you look at that." He murmured. "Humanity still surprises me."

The bartender snorted, as if use to dealing with crazy men. The man introduced himself as Lucifer, and the bartender believed that he grew up in some religious cult or something like that. Lucifer is rusty at mind reading and the bartender's mind is a bit to fortified for ready clearly.

The door to the bar opened, and Lucifer turned to see a young man stride into the bar, taking the seat next to him and ordering a water. "Hey pops."

The devil raised an eyebrow. "Done with that hissyfit finally?"

The man shrugged. "I was just telling the truth. That thing wasn't my father."

"I'm still surprised that you could see through such a thing." Lucifer commented. "It even had me fooled, and it was pretending to be  _ me." _

The other man snorted. "I was born to see mental tricks, dad. The culmination of thousands of years of satanic thought is basically worthless once you realize that the devil did none of it."

"You were a smart kid." He commented. "Why are you here?"

The man shrugged, smiling. "What, can't say hi? I've never seen you face to face before, I thought I could pop over for a drink."

"That's not why your here." Lucifer rejected lightly. "Contrary to what  _ everyone _ believes, I do have a heart. I've watched you grow up, I know your twitches and signals. You're about to tell me off for something."

"Nah." He said, but it came out a little forced.

"You've gotta work on your lying, kid."

He said nothing about being called a kid. "I have a question."

Lucifer knew what the question was. His hand clenched around his cup. "No."

"Come on!" His son suddenly yelled, but no one looked over. It's as if no one even saw them there. "It's been thousands of years! You know he had no choice-"

"He could've come and gotten me!" Lucifer yelled back.

"Could he have?" The younger retorted. "You seemed to forget that not all angels have free will, dad. Don't you know forgive and forget? You've literally held  _ lifetimes _ worth of a grudge!"

"Don't pretend like you understand." Lucifer grumbled. "You're barely an adult, you just have a ton of power you can barely control because of your father."

"I may be young but at least I'm mature enough to solve my problems without bloodshed." The man grumbled. "I know how this is going to end."

The devil narrowed his eyes. "You're not a prophet."

"No." He agreed. "But I know a Nutter. Until you get this figure out, you're not allowed in England. You might be stronger, but that vessel sure isn't, and you're rusty. I can take you on, even if I don't want to."

"The son fights the father." The devil said bitterly. "Again."

"Sod off, you're making me depressed with your attitude." He said. "I'm just telling you to leave England out of this. It had enough last time, when fake you tried to show it's ugly face."

Lucifer looked down. The Satan that started the first apocalypse wasn't him- it was the Bible version of him, made completely of human belief. It was the him everyone believed him to be, not the actual him. "Pretty sure the father is supposed to be the one in charge." He grumbled. "I could take you in my true vessel."

"Even  _ I've _ heard of the Winchesters. They're the human versions of you and uncle Mike, and they're  _ stubborn.  _ No way."

"I feel so much support." The devil muttered. "You're supposed to by on my side."

"I am." He said. "The only reason you want Hell up here is to spite grandpa. You hate Hell too. Admit it, you were on human's side last apocalypse too."

"Only because if Hell or Heaven won I would still be stuck in that cage." Lucifer lied.

"Liar." He was caught. "You can't lie to me. Hell is a place for sinners, and unlike what everyone thinks, you don't make people sin, you just punish the sinners. I would know, they made me take over for a few weeks when management caught the Hell Flu."

The devil winced. Yikes, Hell Flu.

"When the apocalypse starts, you won't be able to stop it." He warns. "If heaven wins, you'll be killed along with the rest of us. You won't be able to keep your family safe. You should help me, when the time comes."

Adam smiled then. "I told you dad, I already know what happens. I gotta Nutter on my side, and they always have the last laugh."

He ordered his father one more drink. "For the road." Before leaving the bar. A demon came in seconds later. "They're somewhere near the west coast!" They announced.

Lucifer groaned and downed the shot. He hated his son.

"You love me!" He heard a shout.

He would never say that out loud. It would ruin his street cred. "Proud of that kid." He did mutter. He could respect Adam, which is saying alot.

"Aw, thanks!"

Nevermind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't even ask me what I just wrote- it's been a month and I'm confused myself.  
> Like, seriously, I have an outline but as I started written the bar scene I just randomly decided to throw Adam into it. He wasn't supposed to be in this at all. I need to stick to my cursed outline.


	14. Chapter 13

Dean landed solidly on the ground, the best landing he's ever had when it comes to angel airways. He blinked at the harsh light of whatever desert they just landed in, before looking around. "Why would he be here?"

The barren wasteland had no humans and certainly not wars in it.

"She." Aziraphale corrected. "War normally goes by she."

Dean paused. "War's a chick?"

Crowley looked at him like he's stupid. "Yes." He said slowly, before turning to Aziraphale. "Why'd we bring him again?"

"I'm right here." Dean grunted, and was ignored.

"In case we need help." Aziraphale explained. "We don't have the best track record for keeping everything under control, dear."

"And he does?" Crowley snorted. "His brother is the vessel of the bloody devil, and he's got an angel's grace stuck in his head. They're already halfway done completing the apocalypse!"

Aziraphale stared him down. "Need I remind you that our apocalypse actually got to the end before we _helped_ stop it?"

Crowley had nothing in response to that. 

"Okay, enough." Dean cut in, putting some edge to his voice. He didn't notice the two jump, as if something he did scared them. "Stop talking about me like I'm not right here. And save your lover's spat for another place at another time. Someone's coming."

Both angel and demon turned towards where he was looking, eyes widening as a motorcycle sped across the sand dunes. That wasn't a regular motorcycle, it couldn't be.

The motorcycle stopped and turned off a few yards away from them, and as the rider took off their helmet Dean had the strange urge to beat Aziraphale to death using Crowley's decapitated head.

Crowley signed and tapped his forehead. Dean blinked in confusion, head once again clear. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He murmured as the rider, a girl with firey red hair, swayed forward.

She scowled when she saw who it was. "You two again." She groaned. "I thought you guys were long gone. I had hoped someone had got around to killing you."

A knife appeared in her hand. Dean aimed his gun immediately. She smirked at him, before looking closer and laughing.

"What's this?" She purred. "You brought a Winchester? Michael's one, I'm guessing. Such a great gift!"

Dean went to cross his arms before remembering what he was doing and putting them back up. "I'm not a present, lady." He snarled. "Just give us your ring and we'll leave."

"Mmm, how about-" the woman disappeared, and Dean stiffened as he felt a blade press into his lower back. The next time she spoke, her breath was warm against his ear. "We instead take you to Lucifer, hm? You are just the right thing to start the war of all wars. Michael'll do anything to get you back."

"I am tired." Dean muttered. "Of people trying to drag me to hell!"

"He's on Earth now." War said causally. "And don't worry. Your soul will be torn into shreds by the time he's done with you, so you won't have to worry. I've heard so much about him~"

Crowley was about to interject, when Dean snorted. "Yeah, sure."

War looked startled for a second. "What?"

"Lucifer would never touch the soul of any pure being." Dean's voice had gone hazy, and it didn't sound quite like him. "He used to go down to earth and help pick up those who fell while playing or working, just because he hated seeing them in pain." Dean's eyes were glassy. "And then humans were made, and they could sin, and he was scared, and father-" Dean cut off, gasping out something between a hiccup and a sob. His eyes were clear again.

"Strange." War murmured, before putting too much pressure on her knife, causing it to sink into his lower back. He gritted his teeth to stop from making a sound. "Well, I guess they can fetch you from hell, yes?"

Dean looked at Crowley, begging him to hurry up. "Keep on taking your time, you snake bastard!"

"Ssshut up." Crowley snapped, and Dean could feel a knife appear in his hand. He lunged forward, twisting at the waist to swing his arm holding the knife. War yelled as the knife slashed across her face, from the left side of her jaw to the right side of her forehead, crossing her nose and barely missing her eye.

Dean started to fall backwards from the momentum when Aziraphale grabbed his collar and somehow managed to pull him up. Dean gawked for a moment, the angel was tiny next to him, before remembering that _War_ was in front of them and he had just cut her.

War didn't look like she did before- her anger was quite literally making her look more and more like a demon. With a surprisingly calm glare, she spoke. _"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Winchester."_ Her voice was ear splitting. _"I'm not like the other lowly monsters you've faced so far."_

"I can kinda see that." Dean said slyly, smirking. She took a step forward, and Aziraphale, the goody-two-shoes angel he could _sometimes_ be, put himself in front of Dean. War stopped for a moment. _"Move out of the way, angel."_

That's when Aziraphale smirked, and when had he picked up the massive _sword?_ "I think you've forgotten what happened last time we met, War." He said simply, and his angel blade _lit up._ "I've took back what was rightfully mine."

War eyed the sword with hunger and fear. She licked her lips, spreading something black over them. "I'll give you the ring for the sword." She said suddenly.

"No" Dean and Crowley said at the same time Aziraphale said "Sure."

There was a few seconds of those two staring at him. He stared blankly back.

Then, for only a second, his look morphed into a smile and he winked. It was gone a moment later. "What's the worst that could happen?" He said, the flames on his sword dying out as he held the hilt towards her. 

War's body started going back to normal, and she slipped a ring off her finger. "This doesn't mean I'll stay out of the apocalypse." She said.

"I know." Aziraphale took the ring before giving her the sword. He almost rushed back to Crowley and Dean, grabbing them by the arms. "It was a pleasure."

The next second they were gone, back in Las Vegas. Aziraphale put the ring next to the first one before smiling. "That went well."

Dean looked at him, incredulous. "War now has a flaming angel blade."

Aziraphale smiled a sly smile. With the flick of his wrist, his angel blade was back in his hand. "I had Adam and Anathema enchant it- it always returns to me whenever I wish it to." This time, his smile was pure and beaming as he looked to Crowley for what seemed like approval. "I told you I got it!"

  
  


Cas didn't have much to do after they landed in Las Vegas, so he was beyond relieved when the smell of sulfur invaded the patio of Crowley's place. "I was wondering when I'd see you again."

"I came all this way just to see you, and I don't even get a smile?" Meg pouted, but it was filled with mirth. She looked around. "Vegas? Such a naughty place for such a pure angel."

"It wasn't my decision." Cas explained, turning to her. "It's good to see you, Meg. I'm surprised you went so far away from your post just to see me."

"Well…" Meg didn't meet his eyes. "It wasn't _just_ for you, Clarence. There's someone I've been meaning to visit-"

The patio door slammed open, startling them both. Crowley stood there, in all his tight black clothes glory, hands on hips. _"Meaning to visit?_ Meganial Elizabeth Lucieda! It's been two hundred years and you've been _meaning to visit?"_

Meg turned sheepish as fast as Cas turned confused. Who was this Crowley he was speaking to? This wasn't regular Crowley. What was this? "Hell's been busy." She defended herself. "And since you're basically taboo I can't just say 'hey I'm going to pop over to the surface and visit Crowley for a bit' anymore." She crossed her arms. "How'd you do that anyway? Holy water?"

"Story for another time." Crowley waved it away. "I practically raised you, from a little demon to now, and I can't even get a weekly phone call?" Cas felt like he was tearing up behind the sunglasses. "Guess you don't care."

"I am a demon." Meg pointed out.

Crowley paused. He sighed. "I raised you right."

"You did." Meg assured him offhandedly. "Now, I was talking to Clarence here. I'll be inside for a chat in a bit."

Crowley just seemed to know noticed him. The atmosphere got heavy as Crowley connected two and two and glared at him. "I'm watching you, angel."

He turned around and went back inside.

Cas has never been more confused in his life. "What… what just happened?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note- The flaming angel blade Aziraphale had did use to be Gabriel's but when said archangel lost it and Micheal gave it to Aziraphale, he took away it's archangel abilities. The blade now functions like a normal angel blade, it just lights up as well. Micheal's not that stupid.


	15. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Archangel and Death

Gabriel really didn't want to do this.

But he had to. They were running out of time, and it was much too dangerous for the rest of his ragtag group, so that put the responsibility on him, the Archangel.

It was times like these that he wished he still had Raph or Michael or Lucifer to fall back on. Alas, that time had passed long ago. 

He sat on the top of a skyscraper, watching humans pass by like ants on the ground below. Cities were the best place to find those close to death. He could feel a soul leaving its body already.

Standing, he jumped off the building before opening his wings and flying over to the soon to be corpse. While usually reapers dealt with normal deaths, Death himself would most likely be much more active now that Lucifer was out- his reapers were more likely to get attacked now and Death was nothing if not a businessman. He didn't like losing employees.

He landed right when the spirit himself did. They locked eyes (kinda-) for a second, before Gabriel reached out and sent the soul quickly to heaven as a thanks. Death hummed in slight annoyance. "That man was to be sent to Purgatory."

He shrugged. "Then he's lucky." He said. "Look, we're both busy people so I'll cut to the chase. Neither of us want the apocalypse- we'll both be out of business afterwards. Let me borrow your ring so I can assure us that we both can keep a living."

Death chuckled slowly. "What makes you think I care about my job?" He asked. "I do what I do, but maybe I want to rest? Maybe I want it to be over, too."

Gabriel snorted. "No you don't. Everyone knows you have some secret side project for doing all of this, even if no one knows what it is." He paused. "Just give me the ring, Death."

Suddenly, Death was right in front of him. The darkness of the hood didn't hide the sockets of his eyes. "True." He murmured, his voice suddenly soft and smooth like honey. Something that someone could get stuck in forever. "Maybe it's _ you _ that wants a break. Do you want it to all be over, Gabriel?"

He gritted his teeth. "Of course I do!" He snapped. "But I learned long ago that what I want doesn't matter!"

Death tilted his head, the hood moving with him. "Thousands of years of running, Gabriel, and all for not. You've been pulled right back in, you're right back in the middle. Stopping your family from fighting, again. Maybe you wished that you did more the first time-"

"Stop."

"-that you had stopped them from fighting in the first place. Do you blame yourself, Gabriel? Do you blame your brother's eternal torment in his cage on yourself? Do you blame your other brother's self made solitude on yourself as well?"

"Stop." Gabriel said again, looking down at the floor with clenched fists. "Shut up."

"I am only saying the words that you're thinking, Archangel." Death murmured. "Is it my fault that you hold so much anger for yourself inside you?"

No. It wasn't his fault, but he didn't have to be digging it all up either. "What do you want?" He finally said. "For the ring?"

Death leaned back, hiding his face again in a shroud of darkness. "Hmm." He hummed. "Keeping Lucifer back is helpful to me- I know that he plans on using me to help start the apocalypse, and I had enough of that the first time. But we can't let this be easy, can we?"

Of course not. Gabe glared. "What. Do. You. Want?"

Suddenly, a cold bony hand was around his wrist and another was around the back of his neck and he was being pulled forward, forced to stare into the black holes of Death's eyes.

The things he saw in there, the amount of times he saw himself die-

Death let go, and Gabriel pulled back, shivering harshly. His hand gripped something cold and hard. "Wh-what-"

"That was a hole into hundreds of other universes." Death explained. "There are many universes, all with everything this has. There are hundreds of universes, which means there's hundreds of yous, hundreds of God's, and hundreds of mes. But I, on the other hand. Well I am connected through all of them. I can see through the eyes of every other death. I see the time line for all of them. What I showed you were the timelines where you failed."

Gabe gaped, hands around arms in a personal hug. "B-but-" he sputtered. "None of the other ones had Aziraphale or C-Crowley…"

Death hummed. "It is the reason why I have multiple Deaths watching through my eyes right now. Our universe merged with another, and the stronger versions of each survived. Aziraphale and Crowley, myself, the horsemen, those in London. We are from the destroyed universe. You, the Whinchesters, those in America, you are from here. Two universes have never merged before without destroying both in the process."

Gabriel realized then that Death's vision to him was helpful. It showed multiple paths of failed plans, of things not to do. His vision could help them win.

Then he realized something. "What about the other Archangels?" He asked. "Michael and Rapheal and Lucifer? You said nothing about which survived."

Death shook his head. "Neither did." He said simply. "It was to much power. I merged with my counterpart because we understood what was happening, and I'm guessing God did too. Your counterpart was weak, and you grew stronger due to pagan magic. Your brothers, though… they were even when it came to strength. The merge destroyed both copies. New ones were made in their place. The exact same, but still somehow different…"

Gabriel thought back on it. Looking back, it did now seem a little weird. Michael use to be headstrong and stubborn, Rapheal used to be uptight and boring, Lucifer was arrogant and violent. While these traits did still stay true, it didn't match up correctly. The Michael he knew wouldn't lock himself away in sorrow, and the Raph he knew wouldn't stay by his side for thousands of years.

But, at the same time,  _ of course they would,  _ that's _ exactly _ like them."

He was getting a headache. His body was still cold. It was then that he realized that Death's ring was in his hand, pressed up against his arm. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because this place is unique." Was his answer. "This universe will never be remade. No new universes will branch off from it, and no others will join us. If you imagine a forest of apple trees, we would be the only peach tree. Once this is over, it'll never be seen again." He shrugged. "The other Deaths are curious to see what happens."

Gabriel got up, slipping the ring on his finger. "Is there anything else you want to share?" He asked, mostly as a joke, but the idea died when he saw Death's still form.

He looked up. "There was another who merged when the two universes survived, instead of the strongest winning." Death said, and the hair on Gabriel's neck stood up. He knew who he was talking about. It terrified him. "She's still trapped, as of now. Watch out for her."

  
  
  


In a bar in rural Nevada sat a cranky devil. His demons said that his vessel was nearby, but by now he just didn't fucking  _ care _ anymore, he just wanted to sleep for a few years. Postpone the apocalypse, it can wait.

He growled when the bar doors opened and a redhead he recognized practically skipped over. "M'lord." She said with a teasing grin.

"War." He said in greeting. This was the first time he's seen her in person. "Your choice for a vessel is intriguing."

"It's more helpful than you think." She responded. "Anyway, I have some information about your brother's vessel that I think you might want to know."

Well. Guess that nap isn't happening. He looked over. "Go on."

"It seems like Michael messed up at some point along the way- his true vessel is practically oozing grace." She started, and that's when Lucifer sat up. had Michael already gotten a yes out of his vessel? "He also seems to remember some of Michael's memories."

He looked at her. "Are you sure that Michael wasn't just using Dean's body to speak?"

"I had a knife to his back." War said in a dead tone. "I drew blood. He has grace, but he's human."

Lucifer leaned back. He had already planned to take both true vessels, he needed his own and he wanted to keep Michael from taking his own, but now it was much more. If Dean had Michael's grace, then that meant that Michael could see through Dean's eyes, could feel what he was feeling. Everytime Dean was hurt, Michael would be hurt too.

The true vessel, the thing that's suppose to strengthen an angel, is actually the weakest point.

Lucifer felt the sudden urge to not let anyone know. That information- that information could completely _ ruin _ his brother, and for some reason… he didn't… want that?

It was the apocalypse and he was planning to kill his brother but just thinking about someone causing him pain-

It made his blood boil in a way he's only felt once before, long before the fall. He didn't know why- he kinda didn't want to.

He finished his drink, slamming it down so hard it shattered. "You're dismissed." He said quietly.

"What?" War asked.

"Leave." Lucifer growled. "Now!"

War was gone faster then he could raise his head to glare. She knew when she couldn't win.

Lucifer grabbed another glass from thin air, filling it up and taking a sip. Why was he doing all of this again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya'll need to go away with all these kudos, who do you think I am?
> 
> Either way, I just realized some stuff and I think this might help a bit with the story.  
> Season 4 takes place in 2008, so they are their 2008 age (early to late twenties), even though we've already passed into season 5 territory. Of course, it didn't take these characters as long because of obvious reasons so I'm still going with 2008. Also, Dean was born in 1979. Adam was 11 in 1990 (book version) which would mean HE was born in 1979. I love that they're the same age.
> 
> Please comment any questions you have and I'll do my best to reply.


	16. Chapter 15

Sam Winchester was pleasantly surprised to not wake up with some form of a hangover. Though his cheek did hurt, squashed against the counter of whatever bar he fell asleep at last night.

Wait. He doesn't fall asleep at bars.

Sun was peeking in through the drawn curtains, which meant that the bar had to be closed by then, but there was someone next to him drinking, even though the rest of the bar seemed empty.

He took a look at the guy's face and did a double take. When he was younger, he might've just said it was a medical disease, but he knows better now. Nothing natural could cause skin to flake and fall off like that.

The other bargoer glanced at him and threw back his drink. "Still figuring it out?" 

Sam blinked, blearily looking around. The room was clean, and the man who was just wiping around had disappeared. "This is a dream." Sam guessed. "You're an angel, right?"

The man grinned. "You could say."

The grin showed Sam something he  _ really _ didn't want to see. He flinched back, falling out of his stool and onto the ground. "Lucifer."

"There you go." The devil smirked. "Knew you were smart. Made after me, after all."

Sam was panicking, but anger was much more previlent in his mind now. Who was he, a hunter, to let Satan just moozy on into his mind, his dreams? "Get out. Now!"

Lucifer tisked. "Where's your manners? I just came here to chat."

"There's nothing to talk about." Sam snarled. "My answer is no. I'm not about to help you destroy the world."

"I wouldn't destroy the world." Lucifer said with a shrug. "I'd just turn it into a better one."

Sam scoffed. "What, a world where everyone's a sinner-"

"Eh!" The devil stopped him, sitting up. "You've got it all wrong, Sam. I don't create sinners, I  _ punish _ them."

Sam crossed his arms, unimpressed. "Your demons say different."

"I've been in a cage since the beginning of humanity." Lucifer said with a dead voice. "Do you think I gave them that order?"

Sam thought about that for a second, before shaking his head. The devil was known for his lies and tricks- why would he listen to him? "Shut up and get out."

"Aww." The devil pouted, mirth flashing on his eyes. "Little Sammy doesn't believe me. Have I ever lied to you?"

Sam glared.

"Alright." He relented. "Think about this, then. If I've been in the cage since the beginning of it all, then how have I done even a quarter of the stuff I've been accused of?"

He got him there. Still, he was the devil, there was no way- "Don't play innocent. Your riding a body right now that's rotting because of you." Sam retorted. "And you've caused hundreds of not thousands of demons to resurface, killing people as we speak."

"Actually." Lucifer said with a shrug. "I told them to stop playing around and look for you-"

"What-" Sam snapped. "Do you expect to accomplish from this? The innocent act doesn't work when it's the fucking devil! I'm never going to say yes, Lucifer, so just get the fuck out and leave me alone!"

Lucifer didn't react, just cocking his head to the side. He got off of his seat, taking a few strides until he was in front of Sam. While he was much bigger than the fallen angel, Sam still felt scared. Red eyes stared almost blankly at him, before Lucifer turned away and wandered around the bar. "I helped a little girl find her mom today."

Sam blinked. What the fuck-? "What?"

"I was flying when I heard her crying." Lucifer continued. "She was such a little thing- Christian of some type. Was praying to the Morning Star, so I heard her. It was pretty easy to bring her mother over."

Sam stared at him. ...huh? "You expect me to believe that Satan himself helped a random little kid for no reason?"

Lucifer ignored him. "A few minutes before that I came across a group of men joking around while playing cards. Those guys… well… I used their intestines to make macaroni art."

That sounded more like it. Sam took a step back. "Get out of my head."

The devil looked at him. He blinked. "Okay."

Sam gasped as he woke up, sitting up so quickly that he saw stars for a second. Blinking, he waited a moment before getting up. His room wasn't the biggest he's ever been in, but it was one of the nicest. Slowly, he got somewhat presentable before exiting the room, picking up his old laptop from a small table in the corner and opening it up, sitting silently next to a bay window.

Something about the latter story of the devil was fimiliar.

With just a few words a news article popped up. Seven or so men had been found dead, only after the police used a map made out of their ripped out intestines to locate them. Sam narrowed his eyes- this was definitely them, but it went deeper than that. The men owned an organization that worked solely on the black market and the dark web, something big enough to be international. Their list of crimes was long; murder, rape, assault, drugs, you name it, it was there. The men were textbook definitions of sinners.

_ I don't create sinners, I punish them. _

  
  
  


Gabriel landed in the kitchen in the late afternoon, returning from wherever he went off to this time. Dean would think anything of it, if the Archangel didn't look the way he did.

"Gabriel?" Dean asked slowly. The rest of the group was in the living room, planning their next move. Dean was just grabbing a beer. "You okay?"

The angel didn't look at him, only grabbing dully at his hand with his other for a few seconds before placing something in it and disappearing. Dean looked in his hand to see a ring, looking at the empty space the Archangel use to hold before turning and running back to the living room. "Hey guys!"

Crowley and Sam looked over first, but Sam had been out of it all morning so Crowley answered first. "What is it? Famine isn't easy to find, you know."

He held out his arm and dropped the ring into Aziraphale's hand. "Gabe just dropped this off." He said. "Something's wrong with him."

"I would think so." Aziraphale murmured, turning the ring about. "This is Death's ring. They've always had a problem with angels, Archangels even more so. I wonder what Gabriel had to go through to get it."

Cas frowned, staring at it. "Famine's is the only one left." He said. "Where is Gabriel?"

"He dropped this off and just left." Dean grunted. "Dunno where he went."

Aziraphale sighed but stayed quiet. Cas nodded stoically. "That means only Aziraphale and I will be the ones to find Famine."

"Wait." Dean held up his hands. "Why only you two?"

"We are angels." He said as if that made complete sense. "Famine can't use human temptation against us."

Dean stared at them both for a long time. He turned to Aziraphale. "Sushi." He said in a clipped tone.

The angel winced. "Yes, well-". He looked for an excuse. "Famine doesn't know that."

"We don't have time to waste debating." Cas declared quickly, placing a hand on Aziraphale's shoulder. "We'll be back soon."

And then they were gone.

  
  


Crowley was beyond bored by the time something interesting happened. Stuck with two Winchesters on basic house arrest was no treat whatsoever. He was almost happy to see Famine enter the room.

Wait. Famine?

Indeed it was. The man was still donning the same body, but his suit was a bit more in style. He wore the cockiest grin Crowley's ever seen on anyone that's not himself and it made Crowley want to  _ strangle _ him.

He paused, taking a breath. He was a demon, a true demon but still a demon. Famine could affect him, if he didn't pay enough attention. He wondered how the humans were dealing with it.

Not well, judging by Dean's rumbling stomach and Sam's-

Sam's…

Sam is staring at him.

He's staring at him with hunger in his eyes and his mouth slightly ajar and is he panting? He looks starved, but not in the way that Dean definitely is. Dean looked like he'd be good after a slice of pie (Crowley wondered if that had to do with his grace) but Sam-

Sam…

Sam looked like he'd be good after a slice of  _ him. _

In that split moment Crowley's last 6 remaining brain cells decided to helpfully remind him that the boy is a recovering addict.

A  _ demon blood  _ addict.

_ Oh fuck. _


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did warn for spastic updates, right?

"Hey Sam." Crowley raised his hands in surrender. "Wanna not look at me like you're about to eat me, please? Would very much appreciate it."

Sam blinked, eyes clearing for a split moment before Famine tisked and the glaze had gone back over his eyes. "Sorry, Crowley." The horseman spit out his name, like it repulsed him. "But you have no power here. There's nothing you can do. Now, it looks like Sam here has a craving."

Crowley blinked, eyelids becoming heavy.  _ Man, _ he was really tired all of a sudden. The kind of tired that made him  _ want _ to take a dirt nap.

He didn't have time to focus on that, though. There were much bigger problems. Firstly, Sam's eyes were black. The man growled, taking a step forward.

"Woah Sammy!" Dean held his brother back, frowning at the sudden growth of strength. "Get ahold of yourself!"

Sam, though, didn't listen, elbowing his brother in the gut before pushing him off. He lunged for Crowley.

"Oh fuck m-"

Crowley doesn't get hurt often or easily, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. His body is still a human body, it has all the bone and muscles and tendons that a normal body has. It also has all of it's ribs.

Which was the thing he's pretty sure cracked when the gigantic man barrelled into him, tackling him to the floor. A painful gasp forced itself out when he felt a broken splintered piece pierce his lungs. Sam went down with him, eyes black and looking like he was about to tear off a piece of the demon for himself.

Luckily, Crowley's a special demon. A demon with  _ imagination. _

It took him all of two seconds to miracle a weapon into his hand, slamming it straight in Sam's face. The weapon clanged against him, and the other man flopped to the side, obviously surprised.

Crowley looked at what he summoned up. A frying pan. He spun the pan in his hands. Better than nothing, he guessed.

Unluckily, Sam was getting back up, and Dean was too busy trying to decapitate a horseman to help him out. He debated the idea of just summoning a bag full of demon blood to hold Sam over before trashing it. Gabe's lock on his withdraw symptoms had to still be there, Famine couldn't get rid of them. But getting back into demon blood most likely would. The real problem he needed to deal with was Famine himself.

He hefted the frying pan and took a defensive position, ignoring the pain engulfing his body. Sam growled and charged him.

  
  
  


A few hundred miles away Gabriel was losing it.

He landed in one of his own homes, some extravagant house in England. It was empty and clean, but only due to the fact that he paid maids to come keep the place clean. There was a party here yesterday, he knows. He had to miss it- he was looking for Death at the time.

He sank onto a couch, looking around quietly before completely lying down, closing his eyes. His brain was going to fast- if he didn't control himself he could accidentally cause a blizzard in Thailand or make a new continent in the Pacific.

Other worlds… other dimensions…

He had to ignore the other things Death said to him,  _ about  _ him. That stuff… It wasn't important. This fight isn't about what he wants, he learned that long ago, this was about heaven and hell. This was about God.

_ It's always about pops. _ An unfamiliar side of him said.  _ He makes everything about himself. _ Gabriel didn't listen to that strange side of him, because that side wasn't rational and this wasn't even-

What was he talking about again?

He should be out looking for Famine. No doubt Cas and Zira were already in the lookout, but Gabriel doubts they understand Famine like he does. The man's a narcissist, when it all comes down to it. He'll probably do the opposite of what they think he'll do, so he can rub it in their faces. Show up at their door, or something like that, most likely.

Gabe froze. Shit.

The flight back took a total of 2 minutes (there was a hurricane forming in the Atlantic). He landed in the living room and immediately had to duck as a pan threatened to end his very existance. "Calm down with that thing-"

Something big knocked him over, or, at least should've, but he's an Archangel and he was ready for it so all it did was run into him and bounce off. He looked down at Sam and frowned. "What happened to you, Sammy boy?"

Crowley wheezed behind him, clutching his side. "It's, its Famine. Dean." He coughed out, sunglasses askew on his face. Gabe looked over to see Dean swiping at a guy in a suit with a knife. The other man chuckled and easily dodged every attack. His eyes widen when he saw Gabe.

"An angel." It murmured, something not quite fearful in his eyes. "I thought I had planned against this… oh well."

Gabriel frowned before he felt it. An overwhelming sense of loneliness fell over him, crushing him as if someone had just dropped a mountain on him. He went to speak but found that he couldn't.

"Hmm." Famine smirked, ducking under Dean and elbowing him in the gut. "Seems like angels do have desire."

Gabriel remembered then what he was up against. It's not surprising that he or any other angel desired things. He's been on this Earth for thousands of years, pretending to be human, and before that, when he was still a 'kid' up on heaven he always took after Lucifer. And look what happened to him. Of course he has desire and of course Famine can affect it.

He's just surprised that his most desired thing is company. Scratch that, he's not surprised at all.

Since he usually steers away from Christian religion, it's been awhile since he's fought against any big bad from it, so it took him a second to remember exactly _ how to _ block against Famine. Once he did, however, it was _on_.


	18. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God, the angel who's fallen and the angel who hasn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is what we call author service. It's like fan service, but for the author instead.

A few hundred miles away stood a writer. A very special writer, but only a writer. His girlfriend had just broken up with Him, so now He only had the books He wrote that made Him famous-

"Excuse me." The writer said, annoyed. "But can you stop narrating me? That's my job."

The writer, Chuck, seems to have forgotten that I took over half His job, and He can go shove it.

"Hey!" Chuck grumbled something about merging God and started typing away at His computer, even though all He had to do was think about typing and the computer would write it all down for Him. "I like doing it this way."

He's bored. He's been bored for the past thousand years- all of the sons He cares about  _ aren't _ in heaven, or are in self exile- there's nothing for Him to do. Which was why He packed up His bags and moved down here-

"Can you stop with that?" Chuck asked, annoyed. "Look I know we merged and all so we should be good but I can't imagine myself with a female voice so can you go back to the Winchesters and your lot? Writing takes time but if I don't hurry up some prophet from  _ your _ world is going to write about this- and get something wrong."

It should be said that Chuck has never read  _ Good Omens _ and doesn't realize that the prophets from the other destroyed world are just as good or even better at writing then Him. I should know, I made them that way.

"I'm  _ God, _ they can't write better then me." Chuck snorted.

Well, I'm  _ also God, _ and I say they can.

"Now we're arguing with ourselves." Chuck murmured. "Great. You know, it doesn't matter, they can't control what's about to happen-"

And neither can Chuck, if He remembers correctly. He was in control of mostly everything in this world, but only mostly. There is one thing I have control over, since it was my best duty in my own world.

Chuck lost power over making the story. That's in my domain now. He has to watch Me make the story, and while He knows what will happen, He can't change it anymore then anyone else can.

"You are insufferable." He groaned, trying to ignore me.

No. I am ineffable.

  
  
  


Cas and Aziraphale arrived back to a destroyed house and the last ring. Dean saw the moment that they both realized that they were duped crossed their eyes, and Aziraphale frowned. "Well then…"

Gabriel slunk on the couch, looking at his hand, which had all four rings, each on a different finger. "That's the easy part done."

"Wh- easy part?" Dean asked. "How's that the easy part?"

Gabe glared at him. "How are we going to get Lucifer _ in _ the cage, numnut?  _ Push him?" _

Oh, yeah. That'll be hard.

The room went quiet. Aziraphale shuffled over until he had reached Crowley, who was sitting on the sofa. While Sam hadn't caused any permanent damage, his ribs still hurt like all hell.

There was a split second of hesitation before Crowley decided he didn't care anymore, that he was too  _ tired _ to care, and so he leaned down to rest his head on the angel's lap, draping himself across the sofa. One of the angel's hands carded through his hair, while the other hovered over his torso. Crowley felt the warm touch of angelic grace, burning just  _ a little too _ brightly, before his ribs started to heal. He hissed for a second at the grace before relaxing.

"Can't leave you alone for thirty minutes…" Zira murmured, and Crowley scoffed.

"It's usually you who causes trouble." He replied, just as soft. The others were talking, planning, but after almost being eaten he couldn't bring himself to care. "I'm tired, angel."

The fingers in his hair froze for a second, before continuing, soft and smooth and loving. "We can't rest, not yet, at least."

He groaned quietly. "But we've already done our part…  _ twice. _ I'm done being stuck in the middle- I'm done having to deal with each side's mistakes. I almost got eaten today."

"Sam feels awful about that, dear." Zira reminded him.

_ "I still almost got eaten, Angel. Doesn't bloody change that, does it?" _

The hand in his hair staggered once again, and the bond between them lit up with anger for a split second, so much so that it made Crowley realize that he wasn't the only one hiding emotions. "Even without that, Crowley, we still have a prophecy. Lucifer is out, but they still want to release the hound."

"Which makes no bloody sense if you think about it." Crowley muttered. "Like, what hound are they talking about? Adam's Dog died a few years ago, and he  _ was _ the Hound. Capital H and everything."

"Breaking a few walls there, dear." He warned, and Crowley closed his mouth. "Either way, neither heaven nor hell is done with us yet."

Aziraphale took his hand from his torso, and when Crowley shifted his ribs only produced a full ache. The demon still frowned, though. He was really getting tired of it all.

Why couldn't Aziraphale take his offer, all those years ago? He knew he bloody well wanted to. Alpha Centori was still open and ready. "But…"

Crowley brightened, hopeing beyond hope that Aziraphale could suddenly read minds. "But what?"

"But, if you'd like…" Aziraphale paused, looking at the others. It was as if they were in their own private bubble, the others didn't even look their way. "I can help you rest."

His answer was through the form of a smile, and the angel gave a smaller one back, carding fingers through his hair once more. The warm feeling enveloped him again, but this time there was no burn from the grace. In fact, it felt like the grace was singing him a lullaby.

It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.


	19. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for 1000 kudos!  
> Also May the Fourth be with you!

Dean woke up early in the morning, something he absolutely hated but couldn't change at all. Ever since his time in Hell he's become custom to waking up at exactly 6am everyday. He couldn't even blame it on night terrors, it was solely Michael's grace and disapline.

He stumbled downstairs in search for some orange juice when a figure in the living room caught his attention. Mostly because that wasn't a normal resident.

The other man caught his eye before he could turn around and leave. "Up early, I see."

Dean glared at the other angel. "What are you doing here, Zach?"

Zachariah scowled at the unwanted nickname. "We all have jobs and duties to preform." He snapped. "Mine just deal with fithly demons and mud monkeys."

Dean moved to the fridge, pulling out his juice. Might as well make a drink before the other angel could do something annoying, like taking away his stomach but leaving the acid. "I'll repeat." He said calmly. "What do you want?"

Zach almost looked taken aback, and Dean could see the faint outline of pulled back wings twitching. "Well, for one, we need the Michael sword." He gestured to Dean. "And we also need the principality."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "What do you need Aziraphale for?"

Zach wrinkled his nose, as if he couldn't be bothered with Dean's stupidity. "That angel has been on earth for too long- he needs to be reeducated."

The grace residing in Dean's body at that moment decided to shrivel in terror. He took that as a bad sign. "Like I'd trust you with any of my friends."

Zach snorted. "An angel can't be friends with a lesser being such as yourself, it's ridiculous to think otherwise. Your soul purpose is to be the sword for Michael to slew Lucifer with- don't think you are anything else besides that."

"Screw you."

Zach scowled, and for a second Dean could see something underneath, something big and pulling towards him. Several arms and wings and heads outlined the angel's body. "We can either do this the easy way or the hard way, Dean."

Dean wished he had an angel blade on him- he could just get rid of this problem for good. He took a gulp of orange juice before looking around and sighing. Nothing in sight to help him out. "How about you come back later and I'll have decided by then?"

There was a squeezing sensation around his throat, and he was being slamming into a wall. He stood there for a few seconds, choking, before Zachariah let him go. "Dick."

The angel still looked upset. "I have two jobs to do and both of them annoy me." He said smartly. "I guess I have to send you up to heaven first-"

There was the sound of wings, before suddenly Dean could see the edge of Cas' trenchcoat from where he sat against the wall. "I can't allow that."

"Castiel." Zach replied. "You've been doing your job subpar. The rightous man is safe, but you seemed to have defected. Do you need to be reeducated too?"

"I need you to leave this place immediately." Cas said sternly, face blank but hard. "No one wants you here. This is your only warning."

Zachariah laughed, and the room was suddenly much more full than usual. Several angels Dean didn't recognize stood scattered around the room, and two had grabbed each of his arms before he could even blink.

Zach smiled. "Go find Aziraphale. We'll be leaving thereafter."

Dean froze, dread crawling into his stomach. Some part of him knew that  _ he _ would be fine, the angels needed him functioning if they wanted him to be a vessel. Aziraphale and Cas, though…

_ Crowley would be with him. _ He'd be smited immediately, and while Crowley was a fallen angel, Dean didn't want to find out if being smited would kill him. Plus if Gabriel was anywhere around then his secret would be out and  _ everyone _ would know. He needed to keep the angels from searching the house.

At that exact moment, about a billion miles up in the sky, sat a depressed Archangel. He had been staring blankly at a wall, deep in his thoughts, when something in the back of his mind tingled. 

The angel frowned- he knew the feeling. Dean's feelings were so fricken strong sometimes, even Michael could feel them behind the barriers he had placed long ago.

Curious, he tuned into Dean radio.

Oh shit. "Raph." 

"I see it." The healer sat right next to him, and Michael doesn't know when or why he was there. He didn't realize that he had been staring at the wall in deep thought for five days straight. "I don't see any way he'll get out of this, this time."

Michael didn't want Dean up in heaven- it'll be a trap for both of them. And neither of them wanted to see Aziraphale be reeducated. They had both trained and mentored him, and there was still a soft spot, espically because he was one of the last people left alive after the fall that they mentored.

Raphael glanced at Michael, debating his next words. "I… have a plan."

A few seconds passed before one of the angels from before pushed Sam through the kitchen door. "I found him. The rest of the apartment is empty."

Sam glared at Zachariah, before smirking at Dean, his eyes telling. Dean could only guess that he warned the others, which meant that maybe there was a plan on the way.

But there were at least fifteen angels, which crossed out Aziraphale and Crowley being any help. Gabriel could take them, but that's not his style. Dean would think that he'd wait until they were left alone in heaven to bust them out.

Zachariah frowned. "You warned them?" He spat, and Sam flinched like he was punched. He sighed. "Nevermind, we'll find them later. Our first priority is giving Michael his sword."

As if on cue, the ground seemed to rumble, and the roof shook. Dean stared at the ceiling in confusion, but the angels of the room had frozen in shock. 

Zachariah smiled, something that curled nastily. "The prince finally leaves his home."

A bright glaring light covered the room, and he saw Cas cover Sam's eyes, right before everything went white and Dean couldn't see anything else anymore.

**_'Let me in, Dean Winchester.'_ **

Dean blinked, out of shock more than anything else. He knew who this is- has heard the voice in his memories enough to recognize it without seeing a face. Michael. Disappointment ran through him- he was  _ really _ hopeing that the Archangel was like Gabriel, that he didn't want to start the apocalypse, but this obviously said otherwise. He guessed the grace in him didn't have the best interest in mind.

But… the grace was telling him to say no, too. It was also saying to trust Michael. Even Michael's voice was amused, as if trying to anger him into saying no. Everything in him screamed to say no, as if that was the only way they'd get out of this.

So, he did. 'No fucking way, douchebag.'

The archangel chuckled, as if hearing his inner thoughts.  **_'Good.'_ ** he said, and something in Dean sighed in relief at the fact that he might actually be on humanity's side.  **_'Don't let the others know you said no.'_ **

Dean blinked, more than confused. The whiteness around him left a blank landscape of confusion. He just wanted to finish his drink and go back to sleep. 'You want me to trick them?' he asked. 'How? They won't fall for it.'

**_'You'll have something that leaves no room for questioning.'_ ** Michael murmured. His voice was going hazy.  **_'Use my memories. Oh, and Dean?'_ **

Dean looked around, as if expecting to see Michael behind him. 'Yeah?'

**_'Kill Zachariah for me.'_ **

There was a surge of light, and he felt new slivers of grace wash over him, connecting to his own before clumping up near his arm, for some odd reason. There was a flash, before the light faded and Dean was back with the other angel's. Gabriel had appeared, as if sensing that Michael had come down to earth, and now he was looking at Dean with a mix of disappointment and horror.

He didn't understand why until he saw a reflection of himself.  _ His eyes were fricken glowing.  _ Grace seemed to roll off of him, even though it didn't connect to him. The entire thing felt like a huge costume to him, but to everyone else it must've looked powerful.

He didn't know how long it would last. Time to wrap this up quickly. He made sure  _ not _ to look at his brother or friends, as it was obvious for what they were thinking.

Zachariah seemed shocked, but then a smug grin formed in its place. "Michael." He greeted. "It's been years since you left the stronghold."

Dean searched the memories he had to his disposal, and the grace provided him with a few ones it seemed to have hand picked itself. They were memories of other times Zach spoke to Michael- one of them begging the angel trying to get Michael to mentor him. Turns out that none of the Archangels liked him.

Didn't need to act much, then.

_ "Zachariah." _ His voice was deeper than usual, and smoother as well. He saw Gabriel clench his fist, before a look of confusion crossed his face. Dean ignored him.  _ "What are you doing?" _

Zachariah frowned, as if confused. The other angel's shifted. "I'm fulfilling God's plan and starting His apocalypse."

_ "That was not your plan to fulfill!" _ Dean snapped, talking a step forward.  _ "And by way of fulfilling His plan, you damage my vessel, other angels, and humans, Father's favorite creation. Is this what you think He wanted?' _

The grace around him flared, and the angels shifted. Zachariah, though, smirked. "You lost command when you put yourself in solitude for thousands of years. I was given orders to pull you out, in any way possible. And I have, haven't I?"

Alright, well, this wasn't just Dean's anger anymore, was it? He turned to the rest of the angels in the room.  _ "Leave." _

Zach faltered. "W-what?"

_ "Leave. Everyone but Zachariah, go back to heaven, now." _

The angel's smug face had turned to concern. "B-but-"

There was a jolt of anger, and something formed in Dean's coat sleeve, even though it felt way too big to fit there. It slid down until Dean had a hold of it's handle, and the thing burst into flames.  _ "Leave.  _ **_Now!_ ** _ " _

In a mess of sound and wings, the room was finally quite clear, and the only ones left were him, Cas, Sam, Gabriel, and Zach, who currently had a flaming sword pointed at his face.

He's pretty sure it's an Archangel blade, Michael's to be precise, given the white and blue flames and Gabriel's suspicious fearful face. Zach seemed terrified to even see the blade, which made sense, he guessed. It  _ was _ one of the only things that could kill the devil.

_ Why _ did Michael give it to him? I mean, Dean doubts he uses it very often, if he spends all day in self quarantine, but  _ still. _ This seems overly dangerous. Does he really trust Dean that much, or does he really want to die?

Zach gulped. "N-now M-michael."

_ "Shut up." _ Dean took a few more steps forward, until he was in his personal space. He held the sword by his side to let Zach relax.  _ "I want you to know something." _

He looked terrified. "What?"

He couldn't help smirking.  _ "I'm not Michael." _ With strength he didn't know he possessed, he brought his sword up and through, cutting through the angel's body as if it was butter. There was a flash, and a second of silence before Zachariah's head dropped to the floor and his body fell overtop of the charred wings on the ground.

The blade's fire extinguished, and the blade itself vanished. Dean looked at his empty hand, wondering where the fuck the blade had gone as the excess grace fell off of him and probably went back to merge with the actual archangel. His eyes stopped glowing.

Finally giving up on the blade, he turned to his brother, who looked shock. He grinned. "I'm a great actor, aren't I?"

Sam gapped, before huffing out a few breaths. Lastly, he glared. Then he was coming towards Dean with the intent to kill.

Gabriel stopped him with a hand to his chest. He turned to Dean. "You said no?"

"Of course." Dean snorted. "I'm not keen on destroying the planet, Gabe."

Gabriel ignored him. "And Michael was… fine with it?"

Dean grinned. "More than fine with it, he  _ wanted _ me to say no." His grin widened at the baffled looks. Finally, people are seeing his side. "He gave me the cool costume to trick the angels. Asked me to kill Zachariah for him."

Gabriel looked more than baffled. "Michael." He reiterated. " _ Wanted you to say no? _ " He held his head in his hands, murmuring. "They really are different angels…"

Dean frowned. "What?"

"Nothing." Gabriel waved it away. "Where'd you put Michael's sword? I'd feel  _ much _ safer if it wasn't in the hands of an idiot."

Dean glared at him. "Screw you. And I don't know. It just vanished."

"No you dilweed. It doesn't  _ just vanish. _ It wasn't needed anymore, so it went somewhere until you need it again. Only you can get to it, so I need you to call it out."

"Maybe Michael took it back." Sam suggested, finally calmed down enough to not kill his sibling. Gabe snorted.

"Unlikely. If he's really like what you said, he'll be trying to stall the apocalypse too. By killing Zach and losing both his vessel and sword, he's added on weeks if not months of extra time for us. So yes, you still have the sword."

"It most likely won't come out until he feels threatened, Gabriel." Cas finally spoke up. "That's when I can call forth my own blade."

Gabe paused, staring at him, before groaning and dragging a hand down his face. "Of course, one of the most powerful weapons in the universe is given to a Winchester. Why won't you guys just retire?"

  
  
  


Crowley appeared some point midday, in snake form and hovering around the seared wings that Zachariah left behind.

Dean saw him when he went to grab a beer. "What are you doing?"

The snake hissed. "What'ssss it look like? Looking for excessssss graccce left behind."

Dean arched an eyebrow. "So you can do what?"

"Replenisssh my own ssstoress." He hissed, before suddenly he was human again. "Angel grace's a bloody hot thing for demons to touch, but fallen angels feel the effect a little less then the normals. Dead angel grace, though? Well, when you come upon it you don't just let it disappear. He's not using it, so why don't I?"

"But-" Dean squinted. "Won't that kill you?"

"It's to little an amount and the angel's dead, so the grace isn't as powerful as before. It'sss like a step up from fallen angel grace. Lets us heal a little faster, the more we have. Most true demons leave it be because the effects are temporary, because they're all bad and stuff and angel grace doesn't like that."

"You, though." Dean continued, catching on. "You don't act or do that, so it lasts for longer?"

"Try permanent." Crowley grinned. "I started doing it after the first apocalypse- a few angels bothering Aziraphale _ mysteriously _ disappeared over a few days. After I realized it was possible I've done it whenever I find some scorched wings. See here-"

There was a second of nothing, before Crowley's wings shimmered into existence. They weren't as black as Dean thought they would be, rather a dark grey, almost silver in color. Dean stared at them- he's never seen a color like that before. "Woah."

Crowley grinned. "I've been slowly but surely beefing myself up. It's a perk of sauntering vaguely downward."

  
  


A few weeks went by, weeks free of unwanted angels and demons. Gabriel connected the rings and Crowley went under to try and pinpoint Lucifer's location. It didn't work too well, and now it just felt like they were at a standstill. Without Zachariah leading the angels, whoever was in charge up in heaven was panicking. It felt like everyone was just… waiting.

And some people, well, some  _ hunters _ were tired of sitting around doing nothing.

It wasn't their best idea, but Sam and Dean had been getting fidgity and they needed a good hunt- and not just one. So after all of the supernatural deities they had somehow befriended finally checked out for the night, they found Baby outside and went off. If the angels really needed them, they'd find them.

One shapeshifter, a siren, windiego, two werewolves, and a demon or two later, they had finally decided to take a break.

At a bar run by vampires.

They're Winchesters, they can't  _ not _ go hunting for weeks and then take a break right when they get back into the thick of it. Both of them were  _ way _ too hyped up for that. The adrenaline rush was addicting.

Sam hacked off a vamp's head with an axe he had found in the backroom, hefting it before ducking under another bloodthirsty sucker. "Where did they all come from?"

Dean grunted, punching one in the gut to put some distance between them before slitting the throat of one creeping up behind him. "They just can't resist us, huh?"

Sam fought off a smirk, cleaving another vamp's head in. The bar would've been safe- if the vamps could prove that they had gone vegetarian (possible but hard, drinking animal blood wasn't as addicting as human blood but it kept them healthy nontheless) but then Dean heard someone crying from a backroom and when he went to check they attacked. So it was obvious that they  _ hadn't _ gone veg and that they  _ had _ someone they were either going to eat or turn in the back, and that person sounded very young as well, which was why the two brothers were killing everything in sight instead of running and regrouping.

A vamp shoved Sam from behind, and he fell on top of a table, breaking it as he crashed through it. The legs of the table snapped, and a piece landed on top of him. He looked at it for a second. No way. They didn't really.

A vamp tried to jump him. He picked up the leg and shoved it into the woman's chest. She died almost instantly.

Sam grinned, something much more sadistic then it should've been. "Hey Dean!"

Dean hit a vampire with the number 4 pool ball and glanced over. "Kinda busy at the moment!"

"The tables are made of oak!"

Dean paused, looking at him, before looking at the five vampires left. He kicked one of the table legs next to him, cracking it. "That's a design flaw if I've ever seen one."

A few minutes later and the small town they we're currently in suddenly had one less supernatural problem. Sam pushed off the last vamp he had killed before joining his brother in making his way to the back. Inside of the pantry was a small group of people, all dead except for a teenager and kid. The kid, a little girl, was holding onto the teenager as if she would die if she let go. She had a cross around her neck, which caught Sam's attention.

They helped the two out, they were a brother and sister who were spending the weekend with their uncle. The teenage boy could drive, and he promised not only to get them back to family, but to also keep their names out of any news that might pop up.

The girl was quiet the entire time, staring at Sam in amazement. "Eve." The teen, Christian, said, pulling on his sister's hand. "It's not nice to stare."

She continued though. After a second, she smiled, free hand going up to the cross on her necklace. "You know him." She said simply.

Sam arched an eyebrow in question, but still smiled. "Know who?"

"He helped me find my mommy." She explained, and Sam's face dropped. "Please tell Morning Star that I say thank you. I prayed again and he helped us again!"


	20. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based around the episode Hammer of the Gods, 5x19. Since it's about an episode, it'll follow that plot with a few differences, but I highly suggest you watch the episode if you've forgotten what it's about.  
> Enjoy!

Dean didn't pretend to know everything. He didn't pretend to always have an answer. He was pretty honest when it came to it. He answered honestly and he was always there for people he cared for, especially his brother.

_ It would be nice though if said brother trusted him enough to tell him when the fricken devil appeared in his dreams, though. _

They were making their way back to Vegas as Sam told him his dream, and where that little girl fit in to all of it. "She was the lost girl who Lucifer helped?" He asked. "The chances of that- there are millions of girls in the US, there's no way."

Sam closed his eyes and thought. "Why did we go to that town in the first place?"

Dean opened his mouth before pausing. They had stopped in the town at 10 in the morning and had decided to stop there and take a motel in town instead of continue on. They wasted a whole day in that town. Not to mention that they went  _ out of their way _ to even  _ get _ to the town- Sam had just suddenly said to get off the highway and Dean decided to not only get off the highway, but stay off the highway and go on back roads. Neither had thought it was weird but looking back on it it was definitely fricken weird.

So something was messing with their heads and changing their thoughts. Of course, they could never get a break.

They were still driving by the time night fell, and before Dean knew it Baby was rocking back and forth as harsh wind started up from nowhere. Surprise storms weren't to unordinary or dangerous, but this one seemed like it wanted to make everything challenging.

After a few minutes of driving in the rain-turned-hail, Sam groaned. "We're getting nowhere. It's late, let's just find a motel and get some sleep."

Dean wanted to fight the storm, but he knew it was no good and started looking for any backside motels on this empty dark road. It didn't take long to find one, and after Dean parked they both ran inside. The rain was so harsh though that they were still both soaked by the time they reached the receptionist.

Their room was right next to a honeymoon couple and what Dean swore was a guy as big as an elephant. He also had to be watching national geographic because Dean heard an elephant as well.

He brought it up when they went for food at the built in restaurant. "You saw that big guy right? Don't tell me he  _ didn't _ look like an elephant."

Sam shot him a dirty look. "Rude, Dean."

"It's true-" the waitress took away his plate and replaced it with a slice of pie. "I have'a hunch, Sammy."

Sam arched an eyebrow. "You think he's a monster because he's… big?"

Dean glared at him. His hunch was perfectly certifiable! "You know what, screw this. An angel would believe me more than you would." He closed his eyes.

Sam watched him with an amused expression. Cas was out searching for God right now, and Gabriel said never to call unless it was an emergency, so if he was right-

There was a woosh, and someone had taken the other seats open in the booth. "Good to see you guys in good health." Aziraphale said warmly. "It's been a few quiet days."

"Weeks." Crowley corrected him, and Aziraphale went red. "He got his hands on a series of books written back in Noah's time. I didn't see him for 2 weeks."

Aziraphale was suddenly very interested in the tea he had just materialized.

Crowley smirked before looking around. "What is this place?" He murmured. "S'feels weird."

Dean gave Sam a point look. "A hotel we stopped at to beat out the storm. I'm pretty sure one of the guests is an elephant."

"Just because a guy is fat-"

"You know what." Dean got up, putting money on the table, "Come on, I'm showing you."

When they got to the rooms the man's door was closed, and Dean was almost suspicious enough to lock pick it open, but Sam gave him a look and he sighed.

Back in their own room, before Dean could start, sounds started from his side of the room.

Crowley wrinkled his nose. "Erm..?"

Sam waved it away. "Honeymoon couple, don't worry-"

The wall behind Dean caved in, like something _ strong _ slammed into it. Dean jumped back as it did it again. After the third time, everything went silent.

Sam caught his eye, and Dean didn't need to say anything. As one, they both moved to the door, leaving their room and going to the couple's door. Aziraphale followed tentatively, while Crowley stared at the wall in confusion.

Sam lock picked the door open easily, and the two of them crept into the empty room. The bed was rumpled, like it had just been used, and the lights were still on. Dean stared at it, before a glint in the carpet made him look down. A ring.

As he bent down to pick it up, Crowley sauntered in. "This entire place smells weird." He mumbled.

Dean handed the ring to Sam. "What do you mean, weird?" Two people were missing, probably dead, if whatever broke the wall got to them. He didn't need the demon's indecisiveness right now.

"Exactly that, weird." Crowley sniffled, and his movements were turning more and more snake-like. "There's magic in the air. And it's not an angel's or demon's. I don't even know if it's christian."

"We'll figure that out after we find these guys." Sam interrupted. "Let's talk to the receptionist."

The receptionist was strange and a little too quick to be normal. Dean's never seen someone type with one hand as fast as he did. What gave him the most pause though was the glare he turned to Aziraphale. Crowley was off wandering the hotel, but the receptionist clearly disliked Aziraphale, which was a red flag, because you had to be either a dick or a supernatural entity to dislike Aziraphale.

“Yeah, this is getting strange.” Sammy murmured as they walked away from the man. “He’s not normal.”

“Aziraphale?” He asked, but the angel shook his head.

“Sorry, but I haven’t the foggiest idea.” The angel murmured. “This entire place feels… spooky.”

Dean gave him a side glance (who uses the word spooky?) but let it go, looking around. “Split up, we need to check this entire place. Meet back up here.”

“Who builds a 4 star hotel on a no star road in the first place?” Sam murmured as they walked separate ways.

Dean didn’t find anything, but at some point he must’ve nicked his neck against something because suddenly he had a cut on his throat. It had stopped bleeding by the time he finished looking around, and no glowy angel blood came out with it, so he forgot it completely.

Dean made his way back to the meet up point, but when he arrived only Sam was there waiting, and the lobby was strangely empty. The receptionist had disappeared.

“I'm not the only one thinking this is bad, right?” Sam grunted in agreement, glancing around with a half spooked half confused look. He went to answer when someone yelled from the restaurant. They shared a look before following the sound.

The entire restaurant was empty, but the kitchen door was open so they made their way inside. There was crying coming from the freezer, but when they went to open the locked door two men in suits  _ appeared _ behind them. They both struggled, but the men had almost superhuman strength.

It was then Dean remembered that they didn’t have the luxury of only dealing with  _ one _ religion. He had forgotten about all of the other creatures and gods from other religions, since christianity had decided to pull him into its own story. He recognized some names, and even though they were in some deep shit, he almost grinned when he saw Ganesh.

He  _ did _ see an elephant earlier!

“We do have a problem.” Mercury, the too fast receptionist, hummed after bringing out the food (a human head, disgusting). “They had an angel with them earlier. I checked the entire hotel, but I’m not quite sure where he’s gone.”

The lady that kept looking at them strangely, Kali, frowned. “My storm was meant to keep them away.”

“It wasn’t that angel, ma’am.” He explained. “It was a different one. Stronger.”

Dean shared a look with his brother, but kept quiet. He doubts Aziraphale and Crowley just _ left, _ so the question wasn’t why they left, but where did they go? Sam shrugged, just as puzzled.

“It doesn’t matter.” The main man, Baldur, waved it away, “If you checked the whole hotel and he’s gone, then he left. Right now, we must focus on our next move.” He turned to look at them. “What are we going to do with our bargaining chips?”

Ideas were thrown out, which led to arguing. It only stopped once Kali stood, eyes sparking with violence and hatred. “We fight.”

That got mixed replies. Mercury was the only one that spoke up against it, though, which almost got him killed. Dean grimaced, and for a second he almost felt bad for the god, before remembering that these guys kinda wanted to kill them.

And then Gabriel arrived. “Why is it that when I see bad ideas I always find you two close behind?”

Dean was about to retort when Sam whispered Gabe’s name and they both lost their voices because of it. Dean glared, hard, but the archangel ignored him. Baldur frowned. “Loki, what are you doing here?”

“Stopping you idiots from getting yourselves killed.” Gabriel slid past them. “Really? This is your grand idea?”

Odin glared at him. “We don’t need you here, Loki.”

“Apparently you do,” He retorted. “‘Cause when I leave you guys make plans that’ll get all of you killed!” He turned to Sam and Dean. “Go to your room, grownups are talking.”

He snapped his fingers and they were gone.

“Oh thank goodness!” Aziraphale was suddenly in front of them, a mixture of relief and worry stained on his face. Crowley was lounging in a chair off to the side. “Crowley caught wind of the pagan gods and when we couldn’t find you we called Gabriel-”

“Angel.” Crowley cut in softly, and Dean noticed he looked strained. “Calm down, please.”

Aziraphale almost wilted, and that was a bit worrying. “Mercury said he checked this entire place and didn’t find you.” Dean started. “But you don’t look like you're hiding.”

“Oh.” The angel perked up again. “We actually are. Crowley has created a time bubble. Nifty little thing, right? Time doesn’t exist here, and since we're here, we don’t exist. If anyone looked in this room right now it would be empty.”

It did seem to be taking its toll, though. Sam looked around in wonder, before realizing that nothing looked different and stopped. “These gods…” He started. “They’re talking about fighting the devil. Do you think they could beat him?”

“He’d turned them into red paint.” Said a new voice, and Dean jumped as Gabriel appeared next to Crowley. He placed a hand on the demon’s shoulder, and Crowley relaxed. Around them, the world seemed to shift, before the clock on the wall started ticking again. “They can’t take Luci, not now. He’d kill all of them.”

One less problem to deal with, Dean thought. “Okay, then let's let them duke it out and get the hell out of here.”

Gabe winced. “No can do.” He said. “Kali’s got you bound here by blood magic. Besides, dysfunctional or not, these guys are kinda my family. I can’t leave them here to die.”

But he won't fight his brother either. This was a ‘stuck in between a rock and a hard place’ scenario, and Dean was annoyed, but he also understood.

“Well,” Sam said, “Can we open the cage here?” He asked. “We have all the rings, can we open hell’s cage here? With everyone here, we should be able to push him in.”

Gabriel paused, and it took him a second to respond. When he did, there was gratefulness in his voice. “I knew you were the smart Winchester, Sammy.”


	21. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're close to the end now! This blew up way more then I imagined it would, but I'm nowhere close to done!

Gabe went off on his own to go find his ex, which left Crowley and his angel in charge of the humans. Of course, the humans could never make it easy, and immediately started making their way back to the kitchen.

"Could you just hold on a minute?!" Crowley snapped, and the two brothers turned in sync. "Do you even have a plan?!"

They looked at each other. "No." Sam admitted. "But while _ Loki _ is distracting the others,  _ we _ need to get the innocents out of here."

Crowley sighed, knowing he lost. Zira would help, it went against his nature to leave people for slaughter. "Let me do it, then." He finally hissed.

Dean arched an eyebrow. "You? I didn't think you'd be up for this."

He shook his head. "I'm the least likely to get caught." He replied, and Aziraphale looked at him like he just offered him the world. It made the demon preen, tattered wings ruffling. "You guys figure out how to get Satan into that cage."

With that, he started changing, turning into a snake that might've been only half a foot wide but more than twenty feet long (while he can change the size of his snake, he can't change the mass of it, so he has to fiddle with it until the dimensions are doable). Due to the size of the snake, he ended up curled around the couch. He hissed, curling himself up so that he was waist level. "Don't do anything ssssssstupid while I'm gone." He hissed, before turning to a vent on the upper wall.

Even with its height it was easy to slither up there, and once he was up it was even easier to follow the sound of humans and the smell of a kitchen.

After a few minutes he paused over a vent in the kitchen freezer. There were a few humans cowarding in the corner, and Crowley could see a mirror to the outside in the back of the freezer. He slid forward in the (surprisingly clean) vent some more, before thinking up a demonic accident.

Vanishing a wall to destroy a freezer is a bad thing, he knows.

After whatever thing that verifies he's doing something demonic checked his miracle and said  _ 'yes, that's very evil, good demonic job sweetie' _ , and the back of the freezer disappeared, and the humans all stared, before they all made a break for it, a few whispering about staying quiet. Crowley watched the proceedings for a few more minutes before turning around.

Then he felt it. His angel's presence had moved.

Muttering, he followed the line back to the angel and ended up in a meeting room of some type.

Again, he looked through a vent. He was just over Baldur's head, and Gabriel's ex Kali was looking back and forth between Gabe and Zira with an angel blade in her hand, as if figuring out who to kill first. Sam and Dean sat in chairs at the front, straining as if stuck there by magic. Crowley guessed that their plan to  _ not _ kill Satan and instead trap him didn't go over well.

Kali finally turned to Aziraphale, and thats when Crowley panicked. A distraction, they needed a distraction or a diversion. He looked down at the god beneath him. 

He never liked Baldur.

The hatch to the vent came off easy and quietly, and Crowley shifted forms so that he wasn't as long but was  _ much _ bigger. 

Then, before any of them could react, Crowley lowered his head and _ chomped. _

Baldur barely even flinched before he was gone, and Crowley pulled his head back up into the vent after dropping what he held in his mouth, spitting at the taste. Only a second had passed, and no one really started to move until what Crowley had dropped hit the ground.

Baldur's head.

And Crowley would do the same to Kali if she didn't get  _ that blade away _ from Zira.

"Oh my." He could hear said angel murmur as the gods around them went into a frenzy. "You made him  _ very _ angry, didn't you?"

"Find where it came from!" Kali barked, whipping around, hand still clutching the angel blade. She flinched, before turning back around and swinging towards Zira.

Gabriel, who had appeared behind her, caught her wrist. "Sorry Kali, but my brother's off limits." He said, twisting her wrist until she let go. He caught it before it hit the ground. "And besides, you don't want to deal with the hell you'd get from hurting him."

Kali muttered something Crowley couldn't hear, but it didn't matter. The gods were zeroing in on his location, he had to move. Slithering forward, he made it to the next vent, right outside the room. Dropping down, he started turning back into a human before stopping, frozen. There was a scream. Someone familiar was coming, but he couldn't tell who. The presence was a hair off from what Crowley remembered, but it couldn't be-

He heard footsteps and curled up in a plant pot in the corner. The stench of blood hit him before a man rounded the corner.

"Oh  _ fuck." _ He hissed.

  
  
  


Dean really wished he could move.

Everyone was arguing around him, and he was stuck in a chair. Crowley's sudden appearance was definitely a surprise. Dean doubts he'd have noticed the snake if he hadn't saw the vent move seconds before Baldur lost his head. He couldn't bring himself to feel bad for the dead god, he had acted like a dick since the beginning.

The arguing stopped as a scream echo'd around the room. Gabriel looked up, before his face went pale. "He's here." He whispered.

The pagan gods stood up. "At least we won't have to look for him." One said, before making his way to the door.

"Don't!" Gabriel shouted, desperation clear in his voice. "He'll kill all of you."

Another god snorted, sneering. "Your type, you're all the same. Cocky and inexperienced, compared to us." The god left the room, followed by the rest of the gods.

Kali went to follow, when Gabe grabbed her arm, eyes pleading.  _ "Don't." _

She hesitated, which was probably what saved her life.

Screaming started up outside, and blood splattered against the door. Dean craned his neck to see, but could only get a glimpse at the carnage.

Crowley slithered inside the room, turning human and slamming the door shut. "We need to go."

Kali looked around, knowing she was out numbered. She flicked her wrist, and Dean could move again. "You can run." She hissed, pulling her arm out of Gabe's hold. "Go be cowards. I'm not leaving until either he or I is dead."

The door swung open. "That can be arranged."

Dean cursed, grabbing his brother's shoulder and instinctively pulling the younger man behind him. Lucifer glanced at them with amused eyes, trailing Dean's form in a way that made his grace shiver before locking eyes with Sam. "Hello Sam, Dean. We'll talk in a moment, let me just finish up here."

Crowley and Aziraphale had frozen, as if to not draw his eye. That made sense, as they were probably the most vunerable ones in the room right now. Aziraphale's blade seemed to be reacting to his panic, and the metal shone, as if it was about to light up.

Gabe took a step in front of Kali, but the goddess wasn't having any of that. Her arms caught fire, and it's blaze almost burned Dean's eyes. There was a second of silence, before Kali yelled and fire rolled off her towards Lucifer like a flamethrower. She didn't control it, and it started spreading. Crowley and Aziraphale took cover, which made Sam grab Dean's shoulder and pull him back behind a fallen table.

The fire slowly diminished, and Dean stood up when he heard a grunt. Gabriel suddenly flew past him, slamming into the wall with a shout. Lucifer (who was completely fine) had Kali by the throat, and the goddess already seemed to have passed out.

Dean didn't have a gun on him, so he grabbed a wine glass and chucked it. The glass shattered against the devil's head, and while he didn't seem too hurt, he did let Kali go.

And he turned towards Dean.

"Can't you wait your turn?" He asked, smirking. 

Dean grabbed another glass in his off hand, pulling out his knife. "Yeah, well, I'm impatient." He remarked. Sam stood up next to him, hands empty.

That's when Dean remembered,  _ the rings. _ Who had them? Damnit-

Gabe was up again, and in a blink he appeared in front of the devil. His hands were empty as well. "Can we solve this without fighting,  _ for once?!" _

Lucifer chuckled lowly. "I wasn't the one to start this, little brother." He took a step forward, but Gabriel held his ground. "You're not who I'm here for, Gabriel, but really? Pagans? Hope you didn't catch anything…"

"Fuck off." Gabe snapped. "Everyone's tired of this temper tantrum, Luci. Go be a big boy and sort this out with Michael,  _ away _ from earth."

"Why do you act like I'm the problem here, Gabriel?" Lucifer asked, legitimately confused. "You love free will, don't you? And besides, Michael won't show. I have to do  _ something _ to get his attention."

"Go blow up one of Jupiter's moons, he'll notice that." Gabe retorted, eyes narrowing. "I'm not letting you mess up another family, Lucifer."

Satan glared. "I  _ wasn't the one who ruined everything! _ " He almost roared, and Dean winced at the angelic voice peaking out through his words. "And again, you don't take my side, little brother."

"I never took Micheal's side either." Gabe pointed out. "But at least  _ he _ seems like he wants to make amends." The archangel glanced at Dean, and Dean just wished he knew  _ where the blasted rings were. _

Lucifer didn't like that. "He  _ tore out my grace _ and threw me out of heaven!"

Gabe winced. "To be fair, that was dad."

Lucifer growled and lunged, but Gabriel was much faster, ducking under his grab and pushing him. The devil flew backwards, shoes scuffing the ground to slow him. 

He glared at the younger angel. "Get out of my way, Gabriel. I told you I wasn't here for you."

"And I told you I wasn't letting you destroy another family again." Gabriel stood his ground.

There was a flash of light from outside, and the shadow of wings appeared behind the devil, and Dean could barely see the actual thing. Whitish grey feathers in tatters, but they glowed brighter than the sun.

Another flash, and he was suddenly in front of Gabe. He punched the younger angel right in the gut, before spinning him and throwing him into a wall. Before Gabriel could get up Lucifer had a hand around his throat.

Gabe squirmed, before the devil gave more pressure and he started to choke. The room went silent as Lucifer took out his archangel blade. Gabriel's eyes went wide.

"Stop!" It was Dean who yelled, and his voice carried, much louder than it should've. Both Lucifer and Gabriel flinched. Dean took a step forward. "Just stop all of this fuckin fighting. Aren't you tired of it?"

Lucifer's hand relaxed slightly, but he didn't let go. His eyes were turning red. "I didn't start this,  _ Dean. _ " He spat. "All  _ I  _ did was give angels the free will they deserved.  _ They _ were the ones that drew first blood,  _ Michael  _ started this!"

"Dude." Gabe coughed. " _ He doesn't have any free will either." _

Lucifer didn't seem to care, which meant he wasn't being rational which made everything harder. Dean clenched his hands, wondering if it'd be easier to just take his blade and stab him with it, even though the grace in him  _ hated _ that idea.

Then, Sam stepped forward. "What exactly is free will, Lucifer?"

Everyone paused at that, and Dean wanted to stop his brother but he seemed to be onto something. Lucifer blinked. "It's what you _ humans _ were born with. The ability to _ not _ listen, to _ not _ do what you're told. You guys are _ allowed _ to rebel, to be your own person. If God told you to do something you could say no and walk away."

"And angels can't do that." Sam finished. "You have no choice in the matter, no freedom. You're being controlled."

Lucifer nodded, eyes hard. "We have to get our own free will. Without it, we're nothing more than  _ puppets." _

"Then it wasn't Michael's fault."

Lucifer froze, and everything in the room seemed to follow him.  _ "What?" _

Sam, though, stayed strong. "If God told Michael to make you fall and he didn't have free will, he had no choice in the matter. He was a victim as much as you were."

Lucifer's eyes flashed. "He could've found his free will!"

"Bro." Gabriel gasped, irritated even as he slowly suffocated. "You were the only one of us that had it at that point, and _ you don't even remember how you got it." _

"You told me that you don't create sinners, you punish them." Sam continued. "Michael doesn't look like a sinner here."

"How would you know?!" Lucifer exploded then, face getting red, but his eyes held a different story. "You weren't there, you don't know! He should've came back and gotten me! He left me there for thousands of years!"

"You think he didn't want to?" Dean finally spoke up, yelling now as well. "He wasn't allowed to leave heaven!"

The room went quiet.

Both Archangels spoke in tandem. "What?"

Dean… doesn't really know where that came from, but now that he's said it it's pretty obvious. The grace in him kept shoving memories forward, and wouldn't stop.

"God forbade him from leaving heaven after you fell." He said softly. "That's why he never went down to the cage, and why he never looked for Gabriel."

"He has his free will, though!" Lucifer spat, but the fight in him was weaker. "He didn't have to listen."

"Michael's grace is a cornerstone of heaven." Dean spat back. "If he leaves,  _ everyone _ will feel it, so no matter where he goes, he'll have flocks of angels and demons and _ God knows what else _ following him!" Dean paused. "He was only allowed to leave to take his vessel and start the apocalypse."

Lucifer's face was going red again, and for a second Dean thought he could see horns. Sam stepped in once more. "If you do this, you'll become what everyone already thinks you are."

Something flickered in his face, before he was stone again. "As much as I appreciate the Winchester chat, you don't understand." He snarled, but for once, they actually did understand. Betrayal within family, fights between brothers, between a son and a father. "You both have already paid for your sins, so maybe if you stay out of the way, I  _ won't _ kill you later."

"He knows what you want, Lucifer." Dean said, just trying to get through his  _ thick skull. _ "Michael won't come down! He doesn't want to fight you!"

"Oh, I know." Lucifer grinned, his grip on Gabe tightening. The Archangel gasped. "Sorry little brother, you never should've been involved."

Gabe coughed something out that they couldn't hear, but Lucifer's face was washed in pain. The devil blinked away tears, before talking his blade and stabbing it into Gabriel's arm. 

The angel's eyes went wide, before he opened his mouth and _ screamed. _

Dean has gone against a few angels in his time, he's seen them get hurt and he's seen them die. They rarely show pain if they get hit with a human weapon, even if they're cut in half or something of the sort. They scream when killed with an angel blade- but it's not really a scream as it is an explosion of grace.

Dean's never seen someone use an _ effective _ weapon against them without trying to kill them. He didn't want to watch.

The grace around the wound flickered, as if it wanted to die out like it normally would in this kind of circumstance, but it held together and gushed out of the wound, turning red as it mixed with blood. Lucifer pulled out the blade and murmured something to his brother. It must've been a spell of some sort, because the wound didn't change but Gabriel suddenly looked much healthier.

Dean couldn't look into it much longer, because there was a sound of wings and suddenly his _ dad _ was in the room.

It took him a few seconds to realize what had happened, and if he wasn't partly relieved to see Michael he would've killed the Archangel himself. "Lucifer." He murmured. "Stop."

Lucifer spun, letting go of Gabriel. Almost instantly, the wound healed, and Dean narrowed his eyes. Was that a trick? "Michael!" Lucifer raised his hands. "Finally decided to show up!"

Even though Lucifer was waving around his blade, Micheal's was nowhere to be found. "It's been awhile."

Lucifer sneered. "That's all you have to say for yourself, brother? You look at me with such contempt!" He took a step forward. "At least now we can finally get started."

Michael shook his head. "I'm not fighting you, Lucifer." He said, voice soft. "Not here, not now, not ever. Never again."

Pain flashed across the other angel's face. "It's a little too late for second thoughts, Michael!" He raised his blade. "We can't fight destiny!"

"You deserve your revenge." Michael replied calmly, sadly. "But not here. The earth doesn't deserve to get mixed up with our drama."

"I don't care about the earth!" Lucifer hissed. "I don't care about humans-"

Sam snorted, which immediately drew the devil's attention. "And you said you never lie." Sam smiled, something that wasn't quite right. "What about the girl you saved? The girl you made  _ us _ save?"

It was  _ Lucifer _ that made them go to that town. That made sense, if Dean thought about it. They had no reason to be there, but that girl had prayed to Lucifer again and suddenly they were there, ready to help.

"And you love the earth, Luci." Gabe stood up, rubbing his throat. "Don't pretend that you don't."

"Lucifer, I'm sorry." Michael butted in again. "I'm sorry for my past actions. I should've… I should've fought against his word. I should've been on  _ your side. _ You were right, you were right to choose free will and you were right to give the humans knowledge. This world is chaotic, but it's  _ better.  _ Better than what they would've had if they stayed in Eden. I should've stood by your side. You deserve to take your revenge, but we shouldn't let our problems drag the rest of humanity down with it. Please, let's settle this elsewhere."

"I heard Alpha Centuri was great this time of year." Crowley, the little bastard, spoke up out of nowhere.

Gabriel ignored him. Catiously, he approached the devil, before whispering something Dean couldn't hear in his ear. He stood back. "Is he really a sinner, Lucifer?" He asked. The devil's eyes had widened. "Are  _ you _ really a sinner?"

Michael turned to Gabriel. His eyes held pain. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Gabriel said, the smallest smile returning to his face. "Dean's grace has been saying that to me nonstop since we met."

"I'll make it up to you."

"Stop fighting and you won't need to."

Michael smiled, something really small, but it was there and it gave Dean hope. He turned back to Lucifer, who still looked shocked. "Well, little brother?"

Lucifer looked angry, but not at Michael. "Just because you had no free will doesn't mean I'm not still livid."

Michael paused, before laughing, and Dean's grace sung which meant- "Let's settle this, Lucifer."

It was quiet for a moment, before something fell on the floor and the ground shook.

Dean turned to the sound, grabbing his brother for balance. It was the rings.

_ Fuck. _

Lucifer, being the being the cage was made for, was immediately pulled forward. The devil yelled, grabbing hold of a table before he could fall in. "Michael!" Fear was etched in his voice. He knew he couldn't get out of the cage. The fact that he called out for his brother was telling.

Dean still couldn’t believe that they had semi-made up, but there were a few things that he needed to know to understand the Archangels.

One) They love their family, but when you have incredible powers and annoying siblings, spats tend to be much more… explosive. Just because they throw mountains and moons at each other while upset doesn’t mean they don’t love their siblings.

Two) Archangels, like angels, don’t have free will. They have to earn it as well. Even though they all gained free will at some point, Lucifer was the first one to get it, even though he doesn’t remember how.

Three) Even with their power, they are all scared of something. There is always a bigger fish in the pond. They fear, but it’s not God and it's not Death they really fear.

Four) The Archangels are Libras. And in the Weekly Lower Tadfield Astrology predictions a certain antichrist destroyer-of-worlds was reading Libras' go as shown.

**Libra [September 22 - October 22]**

**You feel betrayed by family, and it hurts more than you think it should. Accept the pain, and realize that your family didn’t want to hurt you. Realize that you didn’t mean to hurt them. Make amends. Trust a younger person. You may be vulnerable to a stomach upset today, so avoid salads.**

(Adam put down the newspaper with an odd face. Everything but the bit about the salads was true, he knew, and was happening as he read. Whoever wrote the Libra one this week must really be going through some personal trauma, though.

The antichrist took a moment before looking up. His grandfather needed to get it together, even if his father and uncles needed to work their crap out.)

Lucifer held out a hand, eyes wide and scared, but also accepting. He didn’t want to be alone, and Dean could feel the grace inside him curling up with guilt and shame. The grace wanted to join him, wanted to keep him company.

Which meant  _ Michael _ wanted to join him, wanted to make sure he wasn’t alone. His grace was tired, tired of being locked up in Heaven. It wanted peace, it wanted to make things right.

But it wasn’t just Michael.  _ Lucifer _ didn’t want to be alone anymore either. And he was staring at his brother, pleading with his eyes, even as the wind tugged at him, pulling him down.

Thousands of years of guilt and anger, all undone by fear. All archangels feared being alone.

There was a second of silence, when the wind seemed to stop. The grace inside Dean seemed to sing, determined. Then Michael stepped forward and grabbed his hand, and they both vanished. The hole in the floor closed up, leaving the four rings behind on the ground.

Dean gasped in a breath, heaving. He hadn’t realized it before, but his connection to the archangel had been closed. Not severed, it was still there, but now it was noticeable. It was like a door that was always open suddenly slammed shut as he was looking through it. He never even noticed the door before.

Gabriel’s face was an open book, pain and anguish easily seen as he stared at the place he last saw his family. The next thing he said had no sound, but Dean made out the words  _ I love you _ before the archangel had stood up to help Kali.

Sammy was by his side, as always. He looked disoriented, and a bit sad. Even though he didn’t understand the archangels as much as Dean could with his grace, he still looked like he held some regret. For what, Dean couldn’t tell.

Crowley, though, was smiling. He snapped his fingers, put something in his pocket, before turning to Aziraphale. “Two for two!” He said with a grin. “We should make Apocalypse stopping our new job!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a cheesy ending. I dunno if I explained the emotions right- I hope it doesn't seem like it was a big and sudden jump of hatred to making up.


	22. Epilogue

“What should we do with the unfiltered souls?”

Raphael looked up from his paperwork, sighing mentally. At the moment, Heaven’s filtering system for the newly dead was malfunctioning, and now that the Archangels were out of their self imprisonment, it fell on them to figure it out. It fell on  _ him _ .

The rules were that souls with  _ any  _ taint  _ whatsoever  _ had to go to purgatory, but Rapheal was the healer. He has a bleeding heart. “Have our healers purify those with minimum taint and put them in with the pure souls. Send the rest to purgatory.”

The angel who told him the news was clearly surprised. Some of those souls were far too demonic to go anywhere but hell, but here Raphael was, sending them to purgatory? “Not to be rude, sir, but sending the damned to purgatory won’t cleanse them.”

Raphael looked up, and the angel paused, froze in some type of horror. Raphael’s eyes were a mix of red, blue, and purple, with a rim of gold on the outside. They glowed lightly with grace. “Do not underestimate Father’s most  _ prized _ creation.”

There was so much sorrow and hatred and emotion in his voice that the other angel couldn’t respond. He just bowed and left, going to fill out his orders.

Michea-his office quiet again, and he went back to paperwork. This wasn’t what he was created for. He wasn’t meant to lead Heaven. He was meant to scold Michael and Lucifer whenever they dueled and hurt each other before patching them up. He was meant to erase any damage created by Gabriel’s pranks before anyone could catch the youngest Archangel. He could command- he’s commanded hundreds of angels before the fall, but that was different. That was when Michael was to hurt to command them himself.

He wasn’t made for this.

He wanted- needed -his brothers back.

He knew where two of them were, locked up in hell, but he highly doubted that Lucifer would want to see him. He might’ve known that Michael had no free will, but Raphael certainly did (a long story of Father telling him not to help the fledglings that tried to fly to earth and failed. He didn’t listen) and he still went against Lucifer. It was open betrayal in the devil’s eyes, and he probably still hated him for it.

And Michael, even after all those years of helping him, he probably wanted space away from the healer. Raphael most likely smothered him while trying to take care of him. What a healer he was.

Lastly, Gabriel. He was almost certain, for a long time, that Gabriel was dead. It was one of the reasons why he defied Lucifer the day he asked him to join the fallen. Gabriel was the reason why he gained free will- he was one of the older fledglings that tried to go to earth without Father’s permission, and Raphael would never let anything happen to his younger brother.

Well, technically they were twins, but Gabriel was still younger, and grew up and matured slower than him. Spending the most time with him (their-resident-clumsy-fledging) and Michael (their-resident-idiot-with-a-sword) it wasn’t surprising that he became good with healing spells rather quickly.

But would Gabriel even want to see him?

He didn’t help stop the fighting before the fall. He didn’t persuade their older brothers to find another way. He was silent during it all. He didn’t even reach out to Gabriel when he suddenly snapped. And when he finally did, all he found was an empty room and some broken grace. One of the scariest moments of his life.

“Sir!” An angel barged in, eyes wide in something like fear. “There’s a hellhound up in Heaven!”

Raphael arched an eyebrow, fluidly standing up. “Has it been dealt with?” He moved out from behind the desk.

The angel looked sheepish, if grace could look sheepish. Most angels hadn’t been down to earth in a long time, if ever, so most ran around in Heaven without a body. Rapheal had a body, just because Archangels were strong enough to glamour themselves while in Heaven. His body was tall, pale, covered in freckles, with curly dark blond reddish hair. His eyes were still a mix of red, blue, and purple, which everyone noticed yet no one brought up.

His glamour was a mix of his brothers’ glamour. Tall with blue eyes like Michael, freckled with red eyes like Lucifer, and pale with purple eyes like Gabriel. His only unique point was his hair, even though all Archangels had blond hair in their glamour. 

“No sir.” The angel said. Several more angels appeared, bowing to him before talking to the first angel. Security detail for him, most likely. They were tired of losing their leaders. “It has several wards that seem almost impossible to pass.”

The angel lead him out of the Archangels’ stronghold, out into the bright light and white grass of regular heaven. He frowned looking at it. Normal angels loved white to much. The stronghold has its own garden, full of vivid red and green grass that made the world a little brighter. This grass made the world a little brighter, but it made his grace darker the longer he looked.

They were passing his old clinic when he felt something strange. The clinic had been abandoned but kept clean, a kind of mourning place for the healers who lost their lives in the fall. For a time, it was a mourning place for him, too. But that’s not what he felt. What he felt-

The angels drone on about the hellhound, and so completely missed when someone grabbed his hand and pulled. Completely surprised, he went to yelp, when a second hand clamped around his mouth, effectively silencing him.

This… was a new experience, to say the least. He was an archangel, literally the most powerful being known to man, besides a few others he can count on one hand. Father, Lucifer and Michael, Death and  _ her. _ He doubted the antichrist was more powerful than him, so he wasn’t on the list, and he was still alive, so no risk of him being here now. Who was this?

He didn’t fight because he was still confused. Pulled into his old clinic, the door closed quietly behind him and he fell on the floor. Any grace that he might’ve had in front of the other angels disappeared as he rubbed his bottom. “You’ve gotten slow, Raph.”

He froze, looking up slowly. Gabriel was moving about the clinic, carving something into the floor with a spell while mumbling under his breath. His body was gone, and his glamour was the same it had always been, shorter with curly golden blond hair, pale skin, and purple eyes. He and Rapheal looked almost identical if they changed their hair color (which they never did, since Father Himself decided their glamours and they didn’t  _ dare _ piss him off). He had a satchel full of ingredients that he was planting around what he was carving.

It was a transportation circle. To hell.

Oh no.

Rapheal scrambled up, meaning to bolt. Gabriel was going to drag him to hell so their older brothers could take turns tormenting him. He only made it one step when Gabriel took out some rope and spelled it to tie him up. He fell again with a huff. “Gabriel!” He whined.

“Cut the crap, Raph.” Gabriel frowned. “I’ve sent invite after invite, and you never answer! You know Michael wants to see you, right? How about  _ Luci, _ who hasn’t seen you in  _ ages!” _

Raphael refused to believe that, and he squirmed in the ropes. “Let me go, Gabriel. I have work to do, there’s a-“ he stopped narrowing his eyes. “-you let lose a  _ hellhound  _ up here?!”

The younger smirked. “One of Luci’s favorites. I had to promise that she wouldn’t die, so I warded her up.”

“You do realize there are vulnerable souls up here?! Father’s even made new fledglings!”

Gabriel stopped at that, before his face lit up. “Really? Dad’s at it again? That gives me a reason to keep coming up here. We should take them down to the cage at some point- it’s like a bachelor’s pad down there.”

“Do you hear yourself?” Rapheal grumbled.

Gabriel smirked. “I wish I heard myself more, I sound great.” He finished the carving, before taking his archangel blade and pricking his finger. His grace flared, brightening the room into almost a blinding state. He dropped a single drop of grace into the circle, which flared to life. “Alright, your turn.”

He crouched next to his older twin, who started to squirm again. “Maybe I don’t want to go down there, Gabriel.” He stated. “Maybe you're the only one who wants me down there. Michael and Lucifer have no reason to want to see me.”

Gabriel wrinkled his nose, eyes going cold. “Maybe I’m not giving you a choice. Maybe I’m done watching my family tear itself apart over stupid shit. Maybe I’m done stepping to the side and not stopping it from happening. And maybe, just maybe, your family misses you too much to let you rot away by yourself.”

Raphael huffed. “I’m perfectly fine.”

Gabriel snorted, grabbing his hand and slitting a wrist open. It’s been a long time since Rapheal’s been hurt, but he wasn’t expecting his grace to be so dull, especially since only a drop of Gabriel’s lit up the entire room. He stared at his wrist, baffled.

Gabriel’s smile was full of sorrow. “You're losing faith, Raph. You’re going to fall if you continue on like this.”

Rapheal stared at the grace oozing from his wrist for a long time before narrowing his eyes and looking up. “We only need a drop of grace. Why cut my wrist?”

He grinned them. “To scare the crap out of the rest of the angels.” He snapped his fingers, and the grace around his wrist and arm flew out, scattering across the room, his wound healing thereafter. A few drops landed into the circle, which flared up again.

Raphael frowned some more. “What if someone gets their hands on this?” He asked warily. If someone had even a tiny portion of his grace, they had more control over him then he’d like. “The last time an angel had one of our graces, they became you.”

Gabriel grimaced, before straightening. “No worries there, I warded this entire room. Everyone will be able to see it, but no one can touch it. When it’s time for you to come back, you can pick up the grace then.”

All of a sudden, Raphael didn’t want to come back. He knew Gabriel wouldn’t come with him, he’d been up in Heaven all alone again. He really didn’t want to be alone. “I don’t approve of this.”

“When do you ever?” Gabriel snorted before grabbing one of his legs, pulling him into the circle. “That’s why I’m the better twin.”

“Oh please-“ he had more to say, but at that moment the circled flared completely and they were gone.

  
  


The angels felt the exact moment that the last archangel left Heaven. The security detail around Rapheal jumped, looking back in panic when they realized that their leader had disappeared.

Several minutes of running around like headless chickens later, they traced their steps back to the clinic, distraught to see a transportation circle carved into the floor, to broken to see where it was heading. Several of them fainted when they saw traces of his grace on the floor.

And on that day, Gabriel managed to give every single angel in heaven depression. Rapheal doesn’t know if he did it to torment the angels, or to torment him when he gets back.

  
  


Gabriel was right. The cage was a bachelor’s pad.

It was built like a condo, but the prime colors were red and black, giving it a slightly demonic feel. Besides that, though, it was completely scenic. The paintings were of landscapes and heaven and the decor was actually tasteful. Modern, more like it.

Since only those who are actually locked in the cage can’t leave, beings with enough power like angels can walk in and out of the cage with no problems. 

Or, you know, can be dragged in and out of the cage with no problem.

Gabriel marched forward, dragging a muttering Raphael by the foot as he opened the door. They were still in their glamors rather than actual bodies, since they still weren’t on earth, which meant that he wasn’t bleeding grace on the spiky stones but that it still hurt like hell.

They had just made it passed the doorway and onto the wooden floor when Michael appeared, back in his glamour of a tall blue eyed man with swept back platinum blond hair. He was also wearing an apron, which Gabriel immediately teased him about.

“Knock it off.” The eldest archangel took a spatula and swung, barely missing the youngest, before he caught sight of Rapheal. He sighed. “We told you to let him come of his own volition.”

Gabriel scowled. “Which would be never, mind you.”

Michael huffed, dropping down and picking up the second youngest like it was nothing. He tugged at a rope, but stopped quickly. “Did you spell these?” He sounded impressed. “Nicely done.”

Gabriel crossed his arms with a smirk. “Yeah, well, not everyone has problems with spells.”

Michael frowned. “It was one time!”

“A human has your memories.” Gabriel countered. “No, sorry, a Winchester has your memories. A Winchester, who is your true vessel and the brother of Lucifer’s true vessel has your memories. He’s not going to make it to retirement age.”

Michael’s mood shifted, and the room flickered, turning into a dungeon. Michael’s own glamour seemed to go haggard, cuts and bruises littering his skin. But then it was all gone, causing the healer to frown. “I hope you’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” Michael said lightly.

“Got it under control.” Gabriel waved it away, and he seemed to be pointedly ignoring the fact that the bachelor pad they were in was all just for show. Or… maybe he couldn't see it. “Anyway, what’s taking Luci so long?”

“I’m here, brother.” A drawling bored voice drifted from another room, and Lucifer stepped out of the hallway. His glamour was the same tan complexion as Michael, but his hair was the darkest at a dirty blond. He had more freckles than Rapheal, and his eyes were more ruby then blood. He tsked when he saw Rapheal. “Seriously?”

“Completely.”

“Untie him.” Michael turned back towards the kitchen. Gabriel pouted, but snapped his fingers. The ropes lost their will and slumped to the ground. Rapheal got up slowly, looking around warily. This place, like their appearance, was all just a glamour.

They were in pain down here. 

Maybe, since he's the healer, he can see the pain behind the glamour. He was starting to think that Gabriel really couldn't see through the disguise.

Lucifer took a few steps forward, eyeing him like he’d run away at any second. “Long time no see, brother.”

Without a human voice to disguise it, his own voice was very accented and old, like it was before he fell. He never grew with the time, locked up down here. Rapheal studied him closer. Half of his grace was in obvious pain, from whatever was really going on in this cage, but the other half was fine. He was essentially in two different places, only putting on a show for his family. Rapheal guessed it was the same for Michael.

The healer has never been so angry at their Father. How dare he create a place like this? No, it couldn't be their Father. Maybe Hell has warped the cage overtime. Years of the cage being in hell must’ve warped it, turned it into a sadistic device.

“Too long.” Rapheal replied, and his nature got the best of him. He closed the space between them, hands coming to his face to examine him. “How are you?” He tilted his head from side to side, opening up his eyes before poking along his jaw. “How have you been? Here, follow my finger-“

He had just started to move his finger to test Lucifer’s reaction time, but the devil had started to laugh, hands on Rapheal’s shoulders as he chuckled. “Oh, you never change.”

Then he was brought in for a hug, and nothing made sense anymore. Was his brother going to stab him in the back? It was the only explanation, since he should hate him.

He then realized that he would be okay with said stabbing if it meant he could continue this hug.

And as the others joined in, he wondered just how long it had been since he had received a hug himself.

  
  
  


So, things turned out alright, in the end. Things worked out, the humans went onto their next adventure, and most of the angels followed. A certain angel and his demon didn’t, though, but promised to keep in touch.

They always showed for Thanksgiving, and came every other year for Christmas (Anathema liked large Christmases, and always invited them). 

Gabriel did visit his brothers, and usually brought some new type of technology to educate them with, since they were horribly outdated. Raphael kept Heaven in order, and didn’t join them for the most part. You know, not counting that one time where a hellhound in heaven distracted everyone from the archangel on archangel kidnapping proceeding at the same time.

But that’s family.

Crowley also kept the key to the cage in a locked box hidden in the dirt of his plant collection. He didn’t threaten them anymore, since Aziraphale was against it, so the plants now liked him a lot more, and would actually protect the box if it was ever found.

He planned to let them out in a few hundred or so years. Definitely after Adam, Sam, Dean, and any other human with the capability of starting an apocalypse past away. He and his angel was still a possibility, but it had the likelihood of a plant giving birth to a dog. He put them in there so that they could solve their issues without destroying the world.

He never intended to keep them there.

So the not-Apocalypse-2.0 was born and put to rest on August 28th, at exactly 9:23 (give or take a few quarter hours), and the world was fine.

That told us two things.

One) The not-Apocalypse-2.0 was a Virgo. In the Weekly Lower Tadfield Astrology predictions a certain Newton Pulsifer was reading at this exact moment, Virgo’s go as shown.

**Virgo [August 21-September 20]**

**You are tired, and need to rest more. Find someone you trust to watch over you while you regain your strength. Maybe the goal you had was a little to big to handle yourself. Postpone your goal for a later date, until you have someone(s) to help you achieve said goal. You may be vulnerable to death and destruction today, so avoid Darkness.**

And two) The world was, in fact, not fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! Thank you for reading! There is a sequel, but I am obligated to tell you that uploads will be even more spastic then it is now. Check it out if you're interested.


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